


Balanced Part 1

by Polywantsanother



Series: Steam [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2019-12-29 23:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 45,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18303986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polywantsanother/pseuds/Polywantsanother
Summary: The third book in a series! Please read "How Dragons Fall in Love" and "Blood & Seawater" before reading this one!Convinced that Zuko has been brainwashed, Katara, Toph, and Sokka travel through the Earth Kingdom to figure out how to stop his impending wedding. But all's fair in love and war, and the group finds out that there might be something worse brewing in the world than Katara's broken heart.Updates every other Monday





	1. The Royal Guard

Suki had just finished the letter when there came a soft rapping against her door. She froze, her ears pricking to listen to the taps. A fan against the wood tattooed a sharp pattern and then ceased. By the time Suki made it to her door, she could only hear the soft swish of linen pants as the person walked swiftly away.

The Earth Kingdom princess had assumed - either in a fit of ignorance or manipulation - that the Kyoshi Warriors had been an honor guard for her daughter. They had been required to stay on at the palace, even as the princess and her daughter left to return to their city kingdom. Suki had only brought a small number of women with her, enough to help set up the training school and get Ty Lee settled. Not one of them had expected to linger here for any real length of time.

After a whole month, Suki and the other warriors were now too anxious to leave.

Whispers spiked through the palace, and the mutterings in the city were more incendiary. Before, there had been a noticeable presence of Earth Kingdom stock around as the colonists were repatriated. Now, that presence took on a more imperial stamp, disquieting the most forgiving city dweller.

The Fire Nation natives spoke of a more sinister colonizing force; where they had done it with honest warfare, the Earth Kingdom was using heinous politics. The air had turned sour, and residents born within the Earth Kingdom borders made sure to stay indoors at night.

Worst of them all, the Fire Nation citizens remarked, was the bootlicking, traitorous Fire Lord himself.

Someone had long since whispered to Suki how Zuko had previously feared assassination and would wander the halls at all hours, unable to sleep. Now, Zuko rarely ventured out into his gardens and never went into the city, but seemed unbothered by the hostility boiling outside of the wall.

His nights had not become any more peaceful, however.

Bells had been hung all over the palace, an over-enthusiastic gift from the princess’s daughter. They clinked nigh constantly, but Zuko never seemed troubled by them during the day. When questioned about them, he remarked that it reminded him of his bride-to-be, who wore jangling threads on her wrists and ankles.

At night, the sounds of them must have threaded tendrils of disharmony in his head. Zuko often woke up at a late hour, screaming. It was mostly inarticulate, yet some of the other warriors had heard him call repeatedly for Katara. He would thrash at any who came close as if he were blind and could not differentiate friend from foe.

A servant would be called, jingling with some small piece of the princess’s favor, and quiet the Fire Lord. In the morning, Zuko would have no recollection of the previous night.

This tapping that had come announced that Zuko had once again awoken. Suki opened the door to the darkened hall and hurried out, making sure to lock the door behind her. She knew that whoever had been rifling through her things probably had a key, but it would hopefully make them warier. Nothing had been amiss for the past week, but that could be only due to the snoop being more careful.

Suki padded quietly but with purpose down the hall, moving at the edge of a sprint. When she turned a corner, she could hear the screaming. Two other women suddenly flanked her and Suki examined them closely in the dim torchlight. Since their uniform could be so easily copied, they had begun doing simple, temporary changes to it. These two wore their makeup altered slightly, and Suki knew they were hers.

“Has anyone come?” Suki asked.

“No. We are keeping them away.” The warrior on her right said. Suki nodded and they made their way to the screaming.

Two other warriors were already there, keeping Zuko in his room with their fans. His eyes rolled wildly in his head, and his hair was sticking to his sweat-slicked face.

“I need Katara!” He yelled. Suki frowned, watching her warriors circle Zuko as if he were a rabid animal.

She had sent three letters in the past two weeks but had gotten no reply. This next one would have to go out a different way.

“Zuko, if you need a healer, we can call for one,” Suki said as she approached. Zuko whirled on her, staring at her but not seeing her.

“I need Katara!” He repeated and started to cry. She was able to get closer to him and gathered him in her arms.

“You need to tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.” Suki murmured as Zuko made croaking noises. At this point, his throat was shredded from his nights of screaming.

“It’s in my head,” Zuko whined.

“What is?”

“Him.”

There was a clattering outside of the door, and Suki knew she had run out time.

“Who Zuko? Who?” She questioned urgently.

“The Traitor.” Zuko managed as the warriors were pushed aside. A servant, jingling like a pampered house cat, shoved Suki away.

“Hush, sire. It’s fine.” He whispered and Zuko started to quiet. The man jingled and clinked as he ushered the subdued Fire Lord back to his bed. As Zuko clambered in, the man turned and glared at Suki.

“The Fire Lord is fine. You can leave now, guard.” He stated sharply. Suki glared back as the other women gathered around her.

“Good night Zuko,” Suki said, addressing him directly. But Zuko didn’t reply, only whimpered as the servant pulled the blanket up under his chin. Suki sighed and walked out, trailing the other warriors. As she made her way back to her room, the women peeled off one by one and disappeared to their posts.

Suki had a letter to send.

She was at Iroh’s rooms by dawn. Wanting to be discreet, Suki had chosen to wear plain clothes, looking much like another servant wandering down the halls. She had learned most of the routines in the palace and could avoid the people she found unreliable.

Iroh was not surprised to see her when he opened the door.

“I assume this is about my nephew?” He asked, weary, after closing the door behind her.

“When are you going to Ba Sing Se?” Suki asked instead.

“I was not planning on going at all.” He answered. Suki turned and looked almost angrily at him.

“Let me rephrase that.” She said and pulled her letter out of her pocket. “I need you to go to Ba Sing Se.” 


	2. Republic City

Katara’s eyelids stuck together as she tried to open them. The air was muggy and thick, viscous enough to hold onto the pollen in the air and make a blanket of it. For the whole month she had been back in Republic City something disagreeable had been blooming. Pain blossomed in the front of her face and as soon as she shifted, Katara began coughing and hacking. Springtime outside of the Poles was always brutal, but this year her allergies seemed to be hitting harder.

Rolling onto her side, Katara grabbed a soiled handkerchief from the floor. Propping herself up, she spat a mouthful of mucus into the square and wadded it up. She tossed it back to the floor with a groan and fell onto her stomach.

Closing her eyes, Katara tried to rub the gunk off into the sheets. She gave up and sighed, letting her body relax into the mattress.

Then the screaming started.

Her eyes shot open at the first shriek. But Katara only rose slowly as the unending scream got louder as it passed through the room below her.

“GET BACK HERE!” Toph’s voice boomed through the floorboards. The scream broke off into hoarse sobs.

“I’m sorry!” The voice was of the young woman, Penga, sounded high and frightened.

There was a loud crash, followed by many smaller clatterings, and then quiet. With a sigh, Katara heaved herself out of bed. She snorted thickly, trying to free an airway in her nose. Knowing that she would still need to steam her face like every other day this month, Katara just shuffled over to her vanity.

As she wafted her hands over the wash basin, her bedroom door opened. Sokka walked in and threw himself on her bed, pulling the blanket over him.

“You have your own bed.” She said as the steam started to form.

“It’s over the training room,” Sokka replied and rolled over so his back was to her. “Plus you have more pillows.”

Katara directed the steam into her nose and toward the back of her throat. The moisture caused her to have a coughing fit, which she used to dislodge the mucus in her chest. Her hacking was thick and wet.

“Oogie,” Sokka muttered and shoved his head under Katara’s pilfered pillows.

After spitting everything out and blowing her nose, Katara splashed tepid water on her face and pulled the small towel off the hook next to the mirror.

“How are you not full of crud?” Katara questioned as she patted her face dry.

“I’m not poisoned with spirit goo,” Sokka answered, his voice muffled from under the pillows. Katara blew out a heavy breath through her nose as she looked at her hands. The purple had become more visible lately, and she could see the tinting at her nail beds.

“Have you heard from Pakku?” She asked as she hung up the towel. Sokka popped his head up and looked around.

“Paw-Paw? Nope.” He said and then scooped the pillows together.

“He doesn’t want you calling him that.”

“You should know me well enough by now that that is exactly why I continue to do it.”

Katara scoffed and examined her face in the mirror. She couldn’t tell if she was being hyper-aware, but no one else seemed to notice the purple blush to the normally white sclera of her eyes.

Sokka, meanwhile, flopped himself up onto the pile of pillows like an otterseal sunning itself. Katara watched his reflection as he smiled, proud for some reason.

Another crash came from below and they both turned to the open door.

“What happened?” Katara questioned.

“Toph was altering Penga’s shoes. Penga didn’t like that and threw one at Toph, hitting her square in the face.” Sokka answered.

“I do not want to be here today,” Katara muttered. She went to her dresser and jostled out the middle drawer. In the humidity, everything seemed to stick a little. The wood made a shrieking groan as the drawer pulled against the runners. Katara winced.

“Let’s go out then.” Sokka offered and flopped gracelessly onto his back.

“Go where? The shops again?”

“I like the shops.”

“I need to get dressed,” Katara stated. Sokka burrowed into a nest of blanket and pillows. With a sigh, Katara closed the door to her room and peeled off her shift. Her body seemed to reflect the humid air and was always sticky with sweat.

“Have you heard from Aang?” Sokka asked loudly, but still heavily muffled.

“Not lately.” Katara yanked on her tunic and started to do up the ties. Their separation had been difficult, for many reasons. Amaq had asked her to return with him to the North Pole, to sort out what to do next. Aang was taking Avil’s egg to the Sun Warriors and offered a space on Appa’s saddle. It had not been a real choice for her.

After finding out about her feelings for Zuko, Aang had turned solicitous. He had sent her small gifts while he was away. Letters came at first, as he discussed meeting with the Sun Warriors and leaving the egg there. Then there were the dried flowers and small shells. Nothing was written that might be construed as an attempt to win her back. Every note was kind and full of happy promises. Things would work out, she would get better, they would all be happy.

Someday.

Sokka had suggested that they go home to their father, help prepare for the wedding. Katara hadn’t wanted to leave the Earth Kingdom.

Zuko had returned to the Fire Nation after the ceremony last month. Whispers made it through the White Lotus that important announcements would be made at the summer summit when the council met. The Beifongs, and a few other Earth Kingdom companies, were now being more insistent upon the South Pole for drilling rights. Oil was set to replace coal, and the meager surface oil ponds that dotted the Earth Kingdom wasn’t enough.

Political pressure was mounting on the dual chiefs, which was another reason why Katara hadn’t wanted to go to either place. Arnook was pushing for Amaq and Katara to make public their betrothal, despite both of them insisting that they hadn’t gotten engaged.

The necklace was a contingency plan, in case of the worst.

Katara opened her door again once she had finished dressing. Sokka popped up from his grave with a gasp. Shaking her head, Katara walked out into the hall.

The hall was open on one side and ran around the diameter of the building. Every room shared an external wall and looked out onto the open space to peer below. Toph kept her bedroom on the second level, as well as her office. Katara had taken over a spare room, meant for guests but sparsely decorated. Sokka’s room had been for storage, but Toph had her students clear it out and move the training equipment into the empty space of the women’s dormitory on the first floor. The three students Toph had - Penga, the Dark One, and Ho Tun - had been together for years and all moved in together in the men’s dormitory.

The students were, interesting.

Sokka trotted after Katara and they both walked down the stairs. The screaming and crying had long since stopped and the first floor was oddly quiet. It was also a mess.

Katara picked her way over fallen equipment and hunks of twisted metal. They made it into the cramped kitchen, where Sokka found green tea still in a chipped porcelain pot. He poured out two cups and Katara reheated them with her bending. The siblings walked over to the window at the far side of the kitchen, sipping their tea as they looked out.

Toph was calling out random names and each of the three students manipulated pig iron ingots. All of them looked intense, which made Penga stand out in her finery. Toph’s complete opposite that one.

Ho Tun saw them staring and immediately started to blush. As he fumbled through his sets, Toph started to berate him and Sokka laughed.

“I can understand why you would want to get out.” He remarked and took an audible sip of his tea.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Katara asked. Penga now looked around, trying to see what had distracted Ho Tun. As she made eye contact with Katara, she too turned bright red and her ingot fell to the ground.

Katara pulled a face as she turned and slunk away from the window. Sokka burst out laughing but was silenced when a blob of iron hit him in the back of the head.

“OW!” He yelped, dropping his cup.

“You two walnuts need to GET OUT OF MY SCHOOL.” Toph yelled. Katara snickered as she used her bending to pick up the spilled tea. Sokka, on the other hand, muttered curses as he gathered the pieces of his cup.

“Let’s get out of here.” Sokka said darkly, dumping the pieces into the rubbish bin.

Before they went out, Katara tied a length of cloth around her lower face. It hadn’t rained recently, so there was a lot of the mysterious pollen in the air. After noticing her allergies, Toph had her students clean the school every day, but going outside was a gamble. Almost immediately after they stepped outside, Katara’s eyes started to water.

“Is Amaq this sick?” Sokka asked as he closed the gate.

“I don’t think so. He says he’s been going to the Oasis a lot. And he hasn’t noticed any purple.” Katara replied.

“Is it just a case of spiritual hayfever?”

Katara thought about the nightmares; the undefined creatures writhing through her mind and dredging up every deep set fear.

“Yeah.” She replied. Aang had already looked her over and had sensed nothing terribly wrong with her, so Katara assumed she wasn’t dying.

That was the hope anyway.

In some far part of her mind, she almost appreciated the sickness. It kept her mind from wandering over other unpleasant things.

“Any more news from Suki?” Katara went on. The two started walking down a small alley, heading inexorably toward the shops.

“Nope. I think they’re intercepting her letters.” Sokka said, his face looking grim.

“That’s an awfully big conspiracy theory.” Katara remarked. Sokka shot her a look.

“You don’t know everything about Zuko.” He said and then shook his head. “You don’t know how paranoid he can get.”

“Turns out I don’t know much about him at all.” Katara added, her voice soft. Sokka looked back at her and took her hand. Katara blinked back tears and sniffed as her nose started to run.

“It’ll be okay ‘Tara.” He said. Katara pulled at the corner of her eyes with her fingers, trying to clear her vision. Sokka kept hold of her one hand, hindering her and making her click her tongue at him.

“Stop it.” She tried to shake off his hand but Sokka only tightened his grip with a grin. Katara grunted as she whipped her arm around, trying to dislodge him.

“Knock it off!” She snapped.

“I love you!” He said and bent his wrist to keep her from dislocating it.

“SOKKA!”

“ACCEPT MY LOVE KATARA.”

Katara started smacking Sokka’s shoulder and he started to run, still holding her hand. This forced her to trot after him, still hitting him as he laughed. When she started to cough, Sokka halted and let go of her hand. Instead, he started to pat her firmly on her back.

Tugging up on her mask, Katara bent over and spat onto the ground. With her eyes streaming, she glared upward at her brother.

“Stupid jackrabbit.” She muttered. Sokka smiled smugly and gave her one last thump on the back. Katara sniffed and pulled her mask back in place.

“Excuse me.” Someone tapped Sokka and they both turned. A middle-aged woman stood, looking disgusted.

“Yes?” Sokka asked.

“I don’t know how they behave in Kyoshi,” The woman hurled out the name of the town. “But here in Republic City we do not spit. On. The street.”

Katara felt the tips of her ears burn while Sokka, confused, only said “Kyoshi?”

“Sorry, my allergies-” Katara began but the woman only sniffed in indignation.

“Then go to the doctor.” She retorted and walked past them with a huff.

“I guess she has a point.” Katara murmured as Sokka, still confused, repeated “Kyoshi?”

“They wear blue there remember?” She said and elbowed him.

“This is very clearly Water Tribe clothing!” He balked and they started off down the lane again.

“Maybe we should leave the city.” Katara said with a sigh.

“And go where?”

“I don’t know. The Foggy Swamp?”

“Are you allowed back there?”

Katara glared at Sokka and he held his hands up.

“What? Last time you were there you almost started a war.” He added. Katara clicked her tongue again before making a sound of exasperation.

“That was a misunderstanding.” She said quickly. “And they like me, there. It’s other people who were bothered.”

“Like the King of the Earth Kingdom.”

“I could end you.”

“But then who would you get to cut up your pomegranates?” Sokka batted his eyes at her and Katara rolled hers.

The issue was, Katara knew where she wanted to be, and it was the only place that was forbidden. Rin had told her, before leaving with the rest of the royal entourage, that her presence would be decidedly unwelcome, all things considered.

Zuko had said nothing at all.

That still didn’t mean she wanted to go home. When she had resolved that Yupik wasn’t to be her home, Katara had come to an understanding. Water covered most of the world, and none of it ever stayed in the same place. Water held in the icebergs floated to warmer seas, became clouds, and fell as rivers across a far flung plain. She could go anywhere, but it would never be going home.

“Maybe home is a person, not a place.” Katara murmured, mostly to herself.

“That’s why I don’t mind Kyoshi.” Sokka said then paused. “Mmm.”

Katara looked over at him and saw him facing a building.

“Post office.” He said in lieu of an explanation and ducked through the propped open door. Figuring the air was the same inside the open building as it was out here, Katara opted to stay out in the lane. Leaning against the wall, she glanced around.

It was hot and dusty. The gutsy spring weather kicked up clouds of particles, that even looking at them made Katara want to sneeze. The glass cases of the brand new electric lamp posts were caked in bronze dust. At night, they would glow amber.

It was an odd city that fizzled with electricity but still boasted a well-off lantern maker.

Republic City had previously been Kaifeng, a small city originally settled as a trading outpost for the city kingdom of Anhui. When the Fire Nation had invaded, they had used the land mostly as a quarry. Now as the seat of a new nation, it struggled to create a new identity. It was commercial yet had so far been unable to cultivate a refined culture of any sort. Even the electric street lights and the thick cables of telegraph wires were not enough to mark the city as luxurious. It was, however, wealthy enough to be important. A number of Inner Ring residents held lands or businesses here, storefronts left empty by the retreating Fire Nation citizens.

In fact, only a couple of blocks from the Beifong Metalbending Academy was the Beifong Trading Company building, owned by Toph’s parents and run by a squeamish steward. It had infuriated Toph when she finally found out that through two lending and land companies, her parents actually owned the building she rented.

Katara waved at a couple of people passing by; shop owners and merchants that she had gotten to know through Sokka’s perusing. She idly watched the foot traffic and was momentarily bemused by the man struggling with an obstinate jackmule. Its long floppy ears twitched in the sun and a sign that had been hung on one of its antlers clattered against the bone. Pushing herself off the wall, Katara walked over to him.

“Need any help?” She questioned. The man, his face straining as he pulled on the lead, relaxed and heaved out a heavy breath.

“No, thank you. She’ll move when she wants.” He said. Katara was still a few steps away and could see round to the back of the cart. Her eyes registered the form of a small girl just as the child began to scream.

“Thief!” She bellowed and Katara took off running. It was easy to figure out who she was chasing, as he was the only one shoving past the people in front of him. With the number of people in the lane, Katara couldn’t get a clear shot. With a grunt of frustration, Katara felt around for water, any water, that she could use. With the lack of rain, the gutters were dry and there were no handy puddles.

Katara continued to rush forward, making a sinuous streak through the people who squawked about the thief. The young man, not expecting to be pursued, panicked and wasted a moment to look over his shoulder. He ran straight into a fruit cart, overturning it and falling into a pile of bruised fruit.

She hesitated for just a moment as Hama’s voice bubbled up from her memories.

There was water in every living thing.

Katara pulled on the water in the fruit, wincing as she saw the plump, round flesh abruptly shrivel and sink upon itself. But the thin threads of sticky juice were just enough to bind the struggling thief and pull him back through the crowd.

While Katara had to deal with the irate fruit seller, a police officer and the man with the jackmule finally reached the scene. Katara was trying to barter with the woman at the cart, offering the juice as an exchange for the damaged fruit. Various people offered containers and the police officer looked bloated and pained.

“I’ll pay for it.” A deep voice coming from above Katara said. She turned and face a broad man who she did not know.

“Thanks?” She offered as he began to untie a purse from his belt.

“No problem.” He told her and then turned to the seller. “How much?”

The stranger paid out three gold pieces, stamped with the insignia of Ba Sing Se. He didn’t even blink at the woman’s quote and she turned pale at the sight of the heavy metal coins. The juice that Katara had extracted was poured into various, oddly matched containers and the fruit seller now sheepishly offered a cup to both Katara and her creditor.

When he didn’t immediately leave, Katara eyed him. He was large, though proportionally smaller than Amaq, and she knew she would have remembered him if they had met.

“My name is Yong Wang Lei, but you can call me Lei.” He said and smiled at her.

“Katara.” She replied cautiously. Lei’s smile brightened and Katara tried again to recall who he was.

“I thought it was you. I wasn’t sure until I saw the bending.” He said.

“Oh.” Katara said and then forced a weak laugh. “Kay.”

“I have a letter for you. From Iroh.” Lei reached into his tunic but paused as he saw Katara’s bewildered look. “My mother is Yong Shui?”

“You’re Rin’s brother?” Katara blurted and Lei laughed as he pulled out an envelope.

“One of the ones in the middle, yeah.” He replied.

“You guys look nothing alike.” Katara stated and took the folded paper from him. Lei laughed again.

“We get that a lot. We’re all just big.” He said. The fell into an awkward silence and Lei looked around. “Where’s your brother?”

“Oh shoot.” Katara said and started jogging back the way she came. “Follow me.”

Sokka was leaning against the outside of the post office, looking bored. When he saw Katara trotting over he stood up, then looked askance at Lei following closely behind her.

“What is it about you that attracts burly guys?” Sokka remarked and Katara shoved him as she stopped in front of him.

“This is Wang Lei, one of Rin’s brothers.” Katara said after Sokka righted himself. He then shook hands with Lei.

“So what’s the news?” Sokka asked, gesturing to the letter.

“Iroh came to visit and asked one of us to make the trip to Kaifeng. I just got off the train.” Lei said and glanced back over his shoulder. “My bag is still at the station.”

“Do you have anywhere to stay?” He asked as Katara broke apart the seal. The envelope was wrapped oddly and she almost had to shake it open.

“Iroh gave me some money, I can find a place.” Lei answered. Katara saw Suki’s fine handwriting and almost started to hand it to Sokka, but caught a familiar character.

“Why don’t you stay with us? We’re crashing at the Beifong Academy.” Sokka offered as Katara read over the letter.

“Really? With the Toph Beifong? That would be amazing.” Lei said.

Katara pulled the letter closer to her face as she read it again.

“Sure. Though she might test you first. You’re an Earthbender right?” Sokka asked.

“We have to go to the Fire Nation.” Katara blurted. Both Lei and Sokka turned to her, surprised. Katara shoved the letter into Sokka’s hands.

“There’s something wrong with Zuko.” She stated.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you guys checked out the Steam website? https://jaxwrites.wixsite.com/steamarchive


	3. Allies

The smell of burnt wood was alarming first thing upon waking. Suki’s mind tried to get her out of bed, but her body was sluggish. As she opened her eyes, they watered in the hazy air. The acrid smoke squeezed through every gap and crack it could find. Coughing, Suki wiped her eyes and sat up slowly. No one had ever mentioned this phenomenon to her before, and she wondered how people got used to it. It did explain some things however.

For how warm and tropical most of the Fire Nation was, there was an issue of overgrowth. Ironically enough, they had to use prescribed burns to clear out excess plantlife in order to lower the risk of wildfires. So, smaller, controlled fires to prevent larger, more dangerous ones.

Suki opened her window, hoping for a circulating breeze, but instead was hit in the face by a much heavier cloud of smoke. She continued coughing and tried to fan a clear space in the air with her hands.

She had to get out of the palace.

It was mid afternoon, as Suki had gone to bed only after visiting Iroh and making her rounds. Now she had to do her check-in, gathering reports from the other warriors. They were a skeleton crew, and worked long shifts at odd rotations, but they were still going strong. The women Suki had taken along with her were of a more forgiving sort, and did not think poorly of Zuko. After everything that had happened, they were more concerned than anything else.

Dressing quickly, Suki made her plan for the day. She splashed water on her face, to clear the layer of ash and grime from her skin, and then prepped her door. Previously, she had been unconcerned with whomever had been going through her things, but Iroh had warned her that them finding something wasn’t the issue.

It was the potential to hide something and find it again later, at a more convenient time.

There was certainly now a tangible hostility between the new palace staff and the Kyoshi Warriors. Most of them came from the former colonies yet a few were Firebenders, and the rest at least had the look. The regular staff complained about the foreigners but, so they muttered, at least it wasn’t as bad as the inferior stock Chang had allowed. There was an air of preference, even as the new staff came with the Earth Kingdom princess’s recommendation.

Small, seemingly controlled fires over the potential of a wildfire.

Suki snorted as she set her traps. Of course, they wouldn’t really work. When someone eventually tripped it, they would claim to only be servants, attempting to tidy up. Suki would, of course, explain it was an innocent prank on one of her girls; claiming ignorance that anyone else had been going into her room. But then each group would know that the other was aware of the circumstances.

Both groups would have to be more careful.

After carefully shutting her door, Suki trotted down the hall toward the first post. She had dressed again in her casual clothes, picking a red tunic and black pants. At first glance, she looked like one of the colonists. As long as no one looked too closely it was an easy enough disguise. Suki made sure to move quickly.

While meeting with the other warriors, Suki became more and more frustrated. The unspoken suspicion between the two groups was escalating into subtle aggression. Some of the warriors related how they were being followed, or watched while on guard. Conversations were being witnessed by people around corners. The only saving grace was that each one of the problematic staff, to a man, jingled lightly with every movement. Suki considered setting some of the women on a counter espionage mission, but she simply didn’t have the numbers.

After meeting with the last warrior, Suki made her way out of doors. She made sure to grab a wicker basket, hoping to look like a gardener. Spotting a rag lying on a small fence, she took it and wrapped it over her hair. When people approached, Suki made a show of picking at plants, neither weeding nor harvesting, but grabbing fistfuls of greenery to dump in the basket. With these interruptions, it took her much longer than expected to get to her destination. Covered with sweat and a new layer of soot, Suki strode up to the small vine covered house and knocked on the door.

When it opened, a pair of fire foxes rushed out and circled around Suki’s ankles. The woman who answered was pretty, with a thin face and long hair. She wore no expression, which made Suki nervous.

“Are you Zinna?” Suki asked and the woman only blinked at the question.

“I am.” She answered. “And you are?”

“My name is Suki. I’m one of the Kyoshi Warriors.” Suki replied. Zinna’s mouth twitched.

“Come in, please.” Zinna said stiffly and stepped aside, gesturing for Suki to step inside. The fire foxes bounded off before her, and Suki stepped reverently into the small foyer. When Zinna slid the door closed, Suki turned to her.

“I was actually looking for your wife.” Suki said. Zinna sighed and continued into the house. Suki could hear the playful growls and yips of the fire foxes from around a corner.

“Rin isn’t here right now.” Zinna said as Suki followed after her. “You’re welcome to wait for her.”

“Where is she?” Suki asked.

“Who knows. Certainly not at the palace where she should be.” Zinna remarked with clear frustration. Suki didn’t reply and only watched as Zinna went into the kitchen. Zinna started aggressively making tea, muttering to herself as she did. Suki awkwardly took a seat in the adjacent sitting room. The fire foxes, oblivious, incorporated her into their bout.

“Zuko hasn’t dismissed her.” Suki stated hesitantly.

“But he doesn’t call for her either.” Zinna retorted. As the kettle started to heat up, the ticking noise of the metal expanding occupied the empty space. Suki started as one of the fire foxes jumped up into her lap, and she tried to mask her nervousness by stroking it. But as it began to mouth her, with its nonetheless sharp teeth, she pushed it back off.

Looking around the room, Suki tried to get a feel for the normal occupants. The house was sparsely decorated but still felt homey. Light shone in from papered windows and it felt cozy, like living inside of a paper lantern. Suki couldn’t pick anything as a clear sign of either woman who lived here. Rin had always been cranky, and was a large presence both physically and metaphorically. Zinna looked slight in comparison and was shaped like a stylus; straight as a pole with narrow feet. She must have been a gardener, due to the profusion of blossoms and greenery.

“I know Zuko was in the Poles with her.” Suki said suddenly. Zinna’s head snapped to her, and her eyes narrowed.

“How do you know that?” She questioned.

“My boyfriend was there.”

Zinna only looked more disgusted. “And he said-”

“No.” Suki interrupted her. “He never outright said, since there was obviously a need for secrecy. But he told me, in a way only I would understand.”

Zinna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. When the kettle started to whistle she walked over without another word and grabbed a teatowel. Sliding the cover on the stove, she took a moment to fold the towel over before grabbing the handle.

“He was here, before they left for the North Pole.” Zinna said as she poured water into a teapot. Suki stayed quiet and watched her put the kettle back before grabbing a tea tin.

“He hadn’t been sleeping or eating. Grief was consuming him.” She went on. Suki nodded, remembering how he had fainted when Chang was cremated. Shocking to think that had only been a season ago.

Zinna finished making the tea and started to arrange everything on a tray. The cups matched and as she placed small bowls of food, Suki’s stomach made a painful gurgling. Zinna must have heard it as she smiled while she walked over with the tray.

“I don’t know what happened in the Poles.” She added. Suki sighed and waited for Zinna to pour and serve.

“I don’t either. It’s been impossible to talk safely with Sokka.” She said.

“I heard Iroh has gone to Ba Sing Se.” Zinna said carefully.

“To visit Yong.”

“Of course.”

The women ate delicately, and quietly.

“Sokka and Katara are in Republic City correct?” Zinna questioned.

“For now.”

Zinna nodded and settled more into her seat.

“While we wait for Rin, why don’t you tell me what’s been going on in the palace?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, Suki chapters are short!


	4. Strangers

While they stopped to collect Lei’s bag from the station, Katara checked about passage west. Spring often blew visitors to the temperate island nation, so airships and sailing vessels left regularly westward toward the Fire Nation. The board was filled with departures, and an airship was scheduled to leave in three days with an unassigned shipment of goods. Seats were available, the quartermaster told her, but would probably go quick.

The only thing that kept her from booking passage right then and there was the lack of funds that consistently plagued her.

The anxiety ate at her and Katara began to pick at the hem of her tunic. She trailed behind the two men, occasionally having to slip past shoulders to catch up with them. When she actually looked up to dodge an oncoming group, Katara accidentally bumped into a man. He smiled as she apologized but her mouth dried when she looked into his face.

Whatever he said in reply was lost, but the sight of his gold eyes lingered.

She was starting to hate being in Republic City.

“Have you heard anything about the palace?” Sokka asked Lei as Katara fell into step with them. The other man shrugged.

“Not really. Rin barely writes, and never visits. And it’s not easy for us to make the trip from Ba Sing Se.” Lei answered.

“Your mom goes all the time though.” Sokka said. Lei laughed and shrugged again with greater exaggeration.

“Well, Iroh did marry her.” He shook his head. “Iroh would, of course, supply the travel, but there’s not a reason to go to the palace.”

Katara glanced at Sokka then. She understood what Lei meant. Not hearing from Sokka, let alone visiting him, had become her normal over the years. This was the longest she had spent with him since the war ended. If she ever dwelled on it, it made her feel guilty. Sokka had brushed it off, telling her they had to focus on the present.

It wasn't, as she had noticed, such an easy thing for her to do.

When they reached the academy, Katara went in first.

"Toph? We have a visitor." She called out.

"I'm right here Katara." Toph retorted. She walked out of the kitchen, stirring a mug of coffee.

"Rin's brother is visiting and we offered-" Katara started and Toph snorted, interrupting her.

"You decided I needed more freeloaders?" She asked.

"He's an Earthbender." Sokka remarked as he walked in.

"Oh is h-" Toph cut off as Lei stepped in. Just as his feet hit the wood floor, Toph was able to see him and her eyes widened.

"Well, hello." She said in a tone that made Katara blush.

"Keep it together Toph." Sokka remarked as he walked past her. She shot out her elbow and caught him in the side, making him wince.

"Hello Sifu. Thank you for allowing me into your academy." Lei said and bowed. Toph's face fell back into her normal sternness.

"You're welcome to a bed, but you're not in my academy." She stated. "Let's go see what you're capable of."

"Actually-" Katara interjected, leaning in between the two. "Sokka and I need to talk to you."

Toph blew out a breath to make her bangs flutter.

"Fine." She said and then turned to face the training room.

"LILY LIVERS!" She bellowed. There was a crash and the sound of scrambling before three sets of footsteps began to rapidly approach. Toph gently tapped her spoon on the lip of her mug as she waited.

"YES SIFU." All three students said in unison as they pulled to a stop in the foyer.

"I need to you to test this one for any metalbending ability." Toph said and jerked a thumb back at Lei. All three of them leaned over to stare at Lei, then tilted their heads up to actually look at him.

“Uhh,” Lei intoned, starting to get nervous. “What does that, mean?”

Toph turned and held up the spoon she had been using to stir her coffee. As they all watched, she flexed various fingers and the metal utensil shivered and twitched into new shapes. Holding it out to Lei, Toph continued to shape the spoon. Lei’s hand trembled slightly as he reached out and touched it, just as the spoon righted itself. Toph let go and Lei staggered forward to grab hold of it. Toph turned away from him, loudly sipping her coffee.

“Let’s see if you can do that, Ringer.” She said and started to walk away. After no one moved, Toph glanced over her shoulder.

“Are we talking or standing?” She asked. Katara and Sokka shook themselves in unison and followed after Toph. Behind them, the students started their low murmur as they all tried to explain themselves to Lei at the same time.

Toph started toward the door that led into the side yard but suddenly veered away from it. Sokka stumbled at the change of course and Katara could see Toph grin for a moment before drinking more of her coffee. While they walked to the stairs, Katara looked over at the huddled group of students; Lei was holding onto the spoon and straining while the others shouted instructions and encouragement.

"So what did Lei bring with him?" Toph asked as she mounted the stairs.

"Zuko's been having night terrors." Katara said and Toph grunted.

"What else is new? He hasn't a good night's sleep since the war ended." She remarked. Sokka and Katara shared a pained look as they walked up to the second floor.

“I still think he’s been brainwashed.” Katara said and Toph sighed. She stopped at the railing and looked down. Katara and Sokka flanked her, looking at her face before looking down at the open training room below. Her students were throwing small pieces of metal at Lei, who was trying to shield himself with the spoon.

“Ever since Ba Sing Se, I’ve been trying to get better at reading people.” Toph said. Her eyes darted as if they were watching the movements of her students. Katara tried to feel any vibrations under her hands, but couldn’t sense anything.

“Well it’s not like we’ve run into any more brainwashed people.” Sokka said.

“It took a couple of days for Joo Dee to be re-educated.” Toph said, soaking the final word in mockery. “When did they have time to do that to Zuko?”

Katara tightened her grip on the railing and stared down at the wood grain.

“You might need to consider the fact that Zuko made a choice.” Toph said and Katara scoffed.

“What do you know? You’ve barely interacted with him in years!” She retorted. Toph’s face strained and Katara glanced down as the metal bracelet she wore suddenly grew spikes. Then Toph let out a measured breath and the bracelet smoothed out.

“You’re not the only one he was penpals with Sugar Queen.” Toph said flatly.

“You can read?” Sokka asked, incredulous. Toph turned to him and shoved him backward.

“You invented the machine, you idiot!” Toph retorted, but with only mild irritation. Sokka blinked up at her.

“I forgot all about that thing.” He said. Toph made a frustrated noise and shoved him with her toes as she walked past him.

“That’s because you don’t need it.” She said over her shoulder. Katara helped Sokka up and he chuckled.

“I was also really drunk when I made it.” He added and Katara rolled her eyes. They followed Toph into her bedroom and paused in the doorway.

The bedroom was sparsely decorated. The only real furniture was a massive wood desk with large, oddly shaped metal handles. Papers were scattered across the surface; most of them clipped with metal tabs. A large metal box with a row of keys at the front took up most of the space. It was something Sokka had in fact created and told Katara about years ago. He called it a type-set writer and could imprint characters onto a piece of paper. The metal keys were heavy and the embossed characters could be read by skimming a finger over them.

There was theoretically an option to stamp the keys with ink, but Toph hadn’t cared about that.

“Where did you get this?” Sokka asked. Toph walked to the desk and used her bending to pick up papers by the tabs. She felt at symbols carved into the tabs and discarded some until she found the one she needed.

“Zuko had it made for me. A clockmaker and printer couple actually put it together.” Toph answered. She walked back and handed Katara a small packet of papers. The top sheet was blank, but as she tilted it in her hands she saw the light cast shadows over the surface.

“I can’t read this.” She said.

“Welcome to my life.” Toph retorted. “That’s the copy.”

Katara flipped up the paper and saw a handwritten note under it. It was a letter from Toph’s parents. All it discussed was the plans to buy out a metalworks factory in Republic City. One that was currently owned by a Fire Nation company.

“What does this mean?” Katara asked and handed the letter to Sokka.

“I don’t know if Zuko has been brainwashed, but I’m certain there’s something that’s making him act this way.” Toph said.

“The Earth Kingdom is trying to take over the Fire Nation.” Sokka said and Toph crossed her arms over her chest.

“Through their economy at least.” She stated then gestured to the letter with a hand. “Zuko may have been backed into a corner.”

“So we have to go save him.” Sokka said.

“If we can.” Toph agreed. There was a yell from below and Toph made a noise of astonishment. Sokka and Katara looked at her in time to see her bracelet reform.

“Looks like he’s a Metalbender.” She added. Distracted, Toph fidgeted with the bracelet and looked toward her door.

“Toph?” Katara prompted gently. Toph sighed and shook her head.

“It’s a damned relief that everyone has a crisis every few months.” She started and stamped her foot. A bag shot up from her desk and Toph yanked a fist in toward her body, making the bag fly to her. Catching it, she hefted it in her hand for a few seconds.

“Or else I would be so bored.” She finished, not sounding pleased. Toph threw the bag at Sokka, who caught it neatly.

“Go buy us some seats.” She said and walked past him to the door. They all walked out of the room and Toph stopped by the railing as Sokka continued down.

“That’s enough!” She shouted and the noise below ceased.

“I think he’s one of us.” Penga chirped and Toph rolled her eyes.

“This is going to be a long three days.” She muttered.

In spite of Toph’s declaration, the three days passed quickly. Sokka spent most of his time out and Toph prepared the academy for her absence. Feeling anxious, and having packed everything on the first day, Katara decided to go see a physician.

There was a hospital in Republic City. It was a modern marvel and Katara had been there a few times already in a more academic capacity. A few doctors had offered to mentor her if she went to the university in Ba Sing Se, but the thought had flustered her. Even more, she grew slightly sheepish when she saw the texts the doctors referred to on a regular basis. Because of her bending, most of her healing was done on intuition. The physicians she met with could diagram the circulatory system and name the parts of the brain. Away from Sokka, Katara had gone to watch an autopsy, pressing her face to the glass to watch as the surgeons identified the inner organs. It had filled her with both horror and deep fascination.

Being a healer meant so much more in the Earth Kingdom. It brought on more turmoil as Katara thought about her place in the world. It seemed to be a requirement that she dedicate herself to rebuilding her people, much in the same way Aang devoted his energy and purpose. But being in the hospital - with their sterilized operating rooms and precise diagnostic practices - made Katara wonder if she was more separated from the Poles than she thought.

The draw and conflict made her tired, compounding the fatigue that came with her illness.

It didn’t help that as Katara caught the trolley a few blocks away, it was already packed. Panic caused her to start sweating and Katara shivered in spite of the pressing body heat. When someone deeper in the car began to cough, Katara almost propelled herself off of the trolly. Instead, she only tugged up her face mask and kept her head tilted out the open side.

The dust was starting to get bad in the city. With no rain for almost a week, and almost constant traffic on the streets, the only puddles of moisture were rank circles of waste. Thankfully it was still spring, so the heat wasn’t oppressive. But the air became thick with dust and pollen.

Windows in storefronts were tinged either ochre or yellow; some were still smudged as the owners fought the grime. Many had given up and hoped for rain.

Looking up at the thin clouds, Katara could not feel rain. Something else swirled inside of her though- the sense of potential. She remembered the spirit world, where bending did not exist, and thought of the storm.

Katara lowered her head, gargled a cough in the back of her throat, and tightened her grip on the trolley bar.

Once at the hospital, Katara glanced about the waiting room. There weren’t very many clients, and the largest cluster was a group huddled around one figure who held a bloodied arm to his chest. They were all covered in dust, but it was gray, so she assumed they were construction workers.

“Is it busy today?” Katara asked the attendant.

“Busy enough.” The woman sighed. “Not enough doctors.”

Katara nodded. “May I have a cup of water?”

Walking over to the group of construction workers, Katara tugged up on her face mask again. One of the workers noticed her and shifted uneasily away.

“Hi!” Katara said brightly, smiling underneath the fabric. “What seems to be the problem?”

Another one of the workers turned to her and stood.

“Are you a doctor?” They asked. Katara shook her head.

“No. But I am a healer.” She said quickly. When the worker glanced back at their friends, Katara pulled up some of the water from the cup with a light wave of her hand.

“I’m a Waterbender.” She stated.

The injured man only had a deep laceration from a fallen stone. What normally would have required half a dozen stitches was smoothed away by Katara’s healing. The group tried to press money into her hands and, embarrassed, she requested they donate it to pay at least part of someone else’s bill. She watched as they all moved en masse to the reception desk and deposited their money before walking away, leaving the receptionist bewildered.

Moving away from the desk, Katara chucked the dirty water into a potted plant, but kept hold of the small wooden cup. She walked next to a couple sitting quietly together in the back. With no visible signs of trauma, Katara now felt uneasy and sat a few feet away from the pair. They were holding each other and had their foreheads pressed together. One of the men was speaking, too low for her to overhear, and his hand went to the back of the other man’s neck. The other man nodded and tears fell down his face. Embarrassed again, Katara looked down into the empty cup.

A moment later, movement tinged the air with anxiety and Katara looked up. Two large nurses stood adjacent to the couple, and the crying man was standing. He held the other man’s hand and his face was pale.

“I love you.” He said in a rush, obviously afraid.

“I love you.” The other man half stood as their hands separated. “I’ll be waiting.”

He did stand, just as the nurses took the crying man gently by the arms and led him away. The remaining man clasped his hands together and brought them to his mouth.

“Is he okay?” Katara asked, feeling overcome by their conjoined terror. The man turned, shocked, and looked for whoever had spoken. When he saw Katara, he relaxed and gave her a small smile.

“He will be. In a few days.” He replied as he sat down. “I don’t know for how long though.”

His voice was thin and tired. His face was thin and tired. As his hand passed through his hair, Katara thought she saw the glitter of gray hair.

“Can I help? I’m a Waterbender, and a healer.” She offered. The man looked surprised and then smiled that same small smile at her.

“I don’t think so. Unless you can heal a mind?” He said. Katara shrank into herself a bit and shook her head.

“He’s been like this since we were teenagers. He didn’t even want to marry me because of it.” The man clasped his hands again and looked down at them as he tightened his fingers. “Sometimes, the noise in his mind gets so loud it drowns out everything else.”

“How long have you been married?” Katara asked.

“Ten years.” He said. It was not wistful or sad or loving, how he said it. Just a statement, neither resented nor endeared.

“Is it hard? To stay?”

He looked up at her and his gaze was like flint stone. It was too much to ask of a stranger and Katara flinched. He examined her for a moment and when she didn’t look away, only shook his head.

“If he had been afflicted with cancer, it would have been hard. I don’t know why everyone assumes this is any different.” He replied, looking away as he spoke. His hands tightened again and his knuckles went white.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Katara trailed off and he looked at her again.

“You know someone?”

“She had been treated in the Matsu Institute. In the Fire Nation.”

The man nodded.

“We’ve been there, well, Pan has. He got a lot better there.” He said. Something in her half-visible face made him look plaintive. “Did she not?”

“Oh. No. Not without,” Katara hesitated again. “Not without losing everything.”

“And even then.” The man added with soft finality.

“And even then.” Katara murmured in agreement.

A nurse came for Katara and she held up a hand in farewell. The man smiled.

The doctor who examined her said it was merely a reaction to the air pollution. She gave Katara a powder to mix into her tea and sent her off. As she left, Katara looked around the waiting room and saw new people. The man was gone.

Katara strolled as leisurely as possible to the trolley stop, moving away from the clusters of people to cough discreetly into her handkerchief. People eyed her with distrust, and she shifted her eyes away as she pulled up her face mask.

Her sickness was becoming a defining point of her life; though the air was heavier with pollen and dust, it was getting harder to breathe. Walking for too long or simply being out in the heat made her lungs heave with effort.

If it would only rain.

A feeling like a headache was roiling, building behind her eyes. There was pressure, but no pain. Looking back up into the hazy sky, Katara noted that the wispy clouds were gathering. They were threads of a storm, and a deft hand could pull them together.

She ignored the threads, ignored the pressure, and tried not to sneeze.

The sun was at its zenith when Katara jumped off the trolley. The heat was not yet oppressive - though spring did not last long in this part of the world - but it was smothering. There was less wheeled traffic out but now a mass of people flowed up and down the unpaved roads. Katara snaked her way through them and kept a hand on her bag, still remembering the thief from the other day.

“Riku!” A man yelled out and Katara turned. People parted around her, ignoring her stopped form in the middle of the road. Among the shuffling faces, Katara saw ebony hair, colored with iridescence. She tried to follow the hair, but it melted into the sea of brunettes.

“Riku!” The man called again, with heightened anxiety. Katara turned about, feeling her heart beating rapidly while her body lost circulation. Gold eyes glinted in a faceted circle around her.

Then, there was just a small girl at her feet.

Her skin was darker, and her deep brown eyes looked as warm as her long brown hair. The child resembled some sort of otter, looking sleek and self-satisfied.

“Riku?” Katara hazarded. The girl nodded.

“Your father?” Katara asked. The girl nodded again.

Katara sighed and gestured to her with an open hand. “Come on.”

The girl only held her arms out and Katara sighed again. Picking her up, Katara could smell sunshine and sugar caught in the girl’s hair. She had a child’s weight, both soft and too heavy in the center.

Azula had been a child once. Zuko had told them that unlike most normal children, Azula had always been cruel. Fire seemed to find its way from her hands to small animals, or at people, or unattended draperies.

Katara glanced at the child in her arms, who seemed content to be carried by a stranger after having wandered away from her father. Perhaps all children were some level of sociopath.

Riku, the smaller one in her arms, wriggled and Katara paused to look around. She spotted a man looking frantic and talking animatedly with a shop owner. Bending down to release the child, Katara watched the girl walk leisurely to her father. When she tugged on his tunic, the man looked down and nearly collapsed. He hugged her, then held her cheeks and spoke to her, continuously pushing her hair behind her ears. He was still anxious, still animated, but as Riku gave restrained nods, Katara knew he wasn’t yelling at her. The man hugged his daughter again, then stood with her in his arms.

As he started to look around, Katara tensed. Riku slapped at his shoulder and pointed directly at her, moving her father’s attention. When he saw her, he gave a watery, close-lipped smile and Katara held up her hand.

The pair walked off, and Katara watched them disappear before stepping back into the stream of people.

Children were not often on Katara’s mind. She could treat them, and she could entertain them if they were below a certain age. And she knew she would have one or two of her own, eventually. But they were still secondary creatures to her. Somewhere between highly intelligent animal, and Sokka.

Her soon-to-be baby brother would change her whole world. A proper boy to be the proper sort of claimant to her father’s position. There would, of course, never be such a suggestion if Katara would oblige and marry Amaq.

Picturing a baby with her skin, her eyes, Katara found herself imagining a girl. Not Malina’s baby then, but her own. A Waterbender, but hidden behind the ice walls until her marriage bed could be auctioned off.

Raising a baby in a loveless marriage would be awful. Even with only a handful of memories, Katara could remember how her father had looked at her mother. She knew they loved each other, that she had been made with that love, and had expected to grow in it. It made life easier.

Zuko and Azula had not experienced such a benefit.

Scowling beneath her mask, Katara pushed out into a side street. The academy was up a hill, giving it some distance from the bustle of the blossoming city. The noise lessened and, without as much movement, so did the dust. She pulled down the mask and took in deep, gulping breaths of fresh air. 


	5. The Fire Lord

Rin did not return to the house. Suki stayed for as long as she could, discussing the nature of the palace in roundabout ways. Zinna was on edge, that much was clear, but Suki still didn’t feel very welcomed. After the tea was finished, Suki made her goodbyes and left the cozy home.

The wind picked up and the scent of smoke and ash, while still pervasive, had lessened. Suki touched a hand to her kerchief and walked down a path back toward the palace. There was more activity going on than usual; less like the daily routine and more purposeful. She had no idea what that could mean and the thought made her face tighten. She didn’t like this; nothing was going right.

When she and Sokka had arrived at the palace, with Ty Lee and trunks full of supplies for the school, she had been hopeful. All she had to do was start the school, train some guards, and then return to Kyoshi with Sokka. The miscarriage had been hard on them both, and getting away was supposed to help them breathe a bit.

Suki lowered her hand and gently touched her stomach, just for a second.

That conversation had been firmly buried now. On their way back from Hira’a, and preparing Chang’s body, Suki wondered how her problems even merited a conversation. She had watched Sokka board the ship to the North Pole and remembered Zuko fainting. She couldn’t leave him, and Sokka sailed away making her choice for her.

While Sokka was gone, Suki tried to set up the school. Ty Lee was awkward, reticent, and often distracted. She grieved for Azula and Suki had to plead with Zuko to let her tell the truth. When she did, Ty Lee still looked out the window, thinking now of the miles between her and Hira’a.

Suki tried to draw Zuko out, to get him out of his own head, but he wouldn’t budge. She would find him roaming the halls at night or writing furiously in his office. He wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t leave the royal quarters. Even when Suki requested he tour the school, Zuko would wave her off.

Then, suddenly, he left. Suki was confused when Iroh told him Zuko had gone to Ember Island, for rest. He took a light guard, but not her. He hadn’t even told her he was leaving.

The loneliness ached then. She tried to tie up everything at the palace before leaving; without her friends, without Sokka, and totally alone. When Sokka had written to her, and told her of the fight and Zuko’s appearance, Suki had been angry. Zuko had not just ignored her, but kept secrets from her, had kept her from her family and friends! She knew she would wait, just to give Zuko a piece of her mind before she left for Kyoshi.

He had come back, wrong.

Physically, Zuko seemed fine. He actually looked improved, as if he had spent the weeks away at Ember Island. There were no shadows under his eyes, his face was fuller, and he actually smiled.

Which was how Suki knew something was wrong. Zuko could be a happy man, but he simply did not smile.

She couldn’t leave him. She was his guard after all.

Dipping through usually empty gardens and between bushes, Suki attempted to stay out of sight. Almost every person she had seen was wearing bells, and the ringing chased her as she moved. Chancing upon an unmowed patch of lawn, Suki slowed and wiped at her eyes. The wind didn’t hold a smell, but it certainly blew up the ash.

While momentarily blinded, Suki heard footsteps and louder bells. Panicked, she considered falling into the tall grass, though it wouldn’t hide her as dry and brittle as it was. Still frozen with indecision, she nearly jumped when she heard her name.

“Suki! I thought that was you.” Zuko said as Suki turned to face him. Him, and the sour-faced servant next to him.

“Hello, Zuko. How are you feeling?” Suki asked. Zuko, still smiling, tilted his head a bit. The shadows under his eyes had returned, and he was looking pale. He was wearing robes that while richly embroidered with shining gold thread, made him look like an invalid.

“Feeling?” He questioned in reply. Suki fidgeted but struggled to find any safe clarifying words. When her eyes darted to the servant, Zuko turned.

“Oh,” He said and brightened. He continued smiling when he turned back to her. “You mean from last night.”

“I’m just worried about you.” Suki said and reached out to gently touch Zuko’s arm. He looked down at her hand as if confused, and then lightly shook her off.

“It has been agreed that perhaps my constitution has been weakened by staying indoors for so long. Deng has offered to take a walk with me.” Zuko said. Suki looked again at the servant, who scowled at her.

“Do you have time to join us? It would be nice to catch up.” He continued and Suki gave a start.

“Oh. Well, sure. Only,” Suki paused as the wind gave a hearty gust and she held her kerchief in place on her head. With a sudden thought, she gave a slight tug and the rag lifted from her hair. It caught on the wind and was ripped away, and Suki gave a small cry as she reached for it.

“What’s the matter?” Zuko asked. Suki sighed and lowered her face, having her features droop.

“The sun is so much hotter here than in Kyoshi. I need to keep the sun off me or else I might faint.” She answered and glanced up at Zuko. Sokka was the one to use his face to manipulate people, but Suki wasn’t above using such tactics herself.

Zuko furrowed his brow and looked at Deng.

“Go and fetch that for Suki.” He ordered and Deng looked startled.

“But your highness, it is only a rag!” He retorted.

“Then go and get a shade for her. I will not have one of my friends get sun poisoning!” Zuko countered. Deng looked pained and his mouth gaped like a fish as he sought to reply. Knowing that he could not, he stomped through the tall grass in the direction the wind had taken Suki’s rag.

When he was far enough away, Suki held onto Zuko’s arm.

“We should walk, so that I can at least get a little air.” She said. Zuko looked as confused as Deng, but was also unable to find an appropriate denial.

“Of course. But let’s go slowly so that Deng can catch up.” He replied and patted her hand.

They began to walk in the direction of a garden Suki knew was teeming with servants. She did not have enough time.

“When do you think you’ll come down to the school?” She asked.

“Is it almost ready?”

“Yes, well, just about. Ty Lee is a bit distracted.”

Zuko laughed. “She often is.” His face softened then and he looked as if he were contemplating a choice between socks. “Perhaps she misses Azula.”

“Do you?” The words came out so quickly, Suki barely noticed she had said them aloud.

“My sister was a traitor and a war criminal. It is hard to miss such a person.” Zuko said. There was no bitterness or anger in his words. They were said as simply as someone discussing the flaws in an ill-cast pot.

“But I hope her spirit finds peace in the afterlife.” Zuko continued and Suki felt ice in her hands.

“Yes. Of course.” Suki replied automatically as her thoughts spun madly. She was quiet for a few moments before pushing things forward.

“At least Ty Lee has Riku.” Suki said hesitantly.

“One of the other warriors?” Zuko asked. Suki stopped and yanked on Zuko’s arm, forcing him to look at her.

“What has happened to you?” She demanded. Zuko ripped his arm out of her grip and glared at her.

“What are you talking about?”

“This isn’t you Zuko. None of this is you. You can’t even remember…” Suki hesitated, looking around. She couldn’t hear any bells.

“Remember what?”

“What were you doing in the North Pole?” Suki questioned, facing Zuko. He had begun to sweat and his hair was slipping out of its clip.

“I haven’t been to the North Pole in years.” He stated.

“You’re lying! You were there, with the spirits. And when Katara,” Suki halted again, thinking back to his night terrors.

“What happened to Katara?” She asked.

Zuko stared at her, his face contorting. “Katara was…” He winced and held his head in his hands. “Katara got hurt…”

“Zuko.” Suki grabbed the front of his robes and shook him once. “What happened in the North Pole?”

“No, the south. It was the South Pole. They, they hurt her.” Zuko’s eyes were wild, and they darted as he spoke. Then with a pained grunt, Zuko thrust Suki away from him.

“I haven’t seen Katara in months.” He said firmly. Suki stepped back up to him and slapped him.

“What happened to you?” She commanded him and he wavered. He looked much as he did in the throes of his nighttime madness.

“Help me.” He said softly, holding a hand to his reddened cheek. “He’s in my head.”

“Who? Zuko, you need to tell me who did this.” Suki said.

“No. Suki, I need Katara.” Zuko replied and reached for her. “Suki, please. I need to tell her.”

Suki held out her arms, waiting for him. “Tell her what? Zuko?”

The sound of bells, and running.

“I love her.” Zuko’s mouth shaped words but all she could hear was shouting.

“Your Highness!” A group of servants spoke with one voice, encircling Zuko as one entity. Bells rang on wrists and ankles, and Zuko was enveloped. Suki staggered back and felt someone grab her roughly.

“Your rag.” Deng hissed and thrust the piece of linen at her before walking to the others. They all ushered Zuko away, leaving her in the sweltering sun. She continued to stand there, even after they disappeared from view.

“Well,” Came a thin, irritated voice. “You certainly screwed that up.”


	6. Arrival

The airship port was another trolley ride, but this one was not as densely populated. They had most of the car to themselves, and Sokka was taking full advantage. He sat on the bench with a bag under his neck, resting his head. His jaw went slack and his knees bowed outward, looking much like a puppet with cut strings. He snored, and occasionally sounded as if he were trying to dislodge an unwilling stone toad from his throat.

Toph stood, forgoing the handholds. She barely wavered on her feet as she felt the movement of the metal under her feet, and the ground below that. Even at the galloping speed, as the trolley left the main part of the city, she kept her balance.

Katara stayed by the door, holding onto a bar secured to the wall. When the wheels hit a flaw in the track, her body jolted without consideration to her joints.

“So what’s the plan?” Toph asked once the airship port came into view. Katara sighed and struggled with her face mask. Ironically, out in the open fields, her allergies seemed to lessen. She could breathe easier, and her chest didn’t bother her.

“We go see Zuko and find out what’s going on.” Katara replied.

“Whether he’s brainwashed or blackmailed, you know it’s not that simple.” Toph said. Katara winced as she looked out of the panes in the door. An airship lifted surprisingly quickly as it took off, but two others sat like toy boats attached to balloons.

“We have to do something.” She said and then glanced at Toph. “We have to.”

“It’s never been that easy. You know it hasn’t.” Toph moved back over to Sokka and kicked his shin. Sokka sat up with a yelp.

“What was that for?” He asked, rubbing his leg.

“I wanted to wake you up. I just missed.” Toph replied.

“You never miss.” Sokka grumbled and shifted from side to side in order to sit more comfortably. Katara leaned her head against the glass, grateful that the track and smoothed out. At least she could contemplate the horizon without bashing her forehead against the wood frame.

The ship they were taking was a Class B ship; a mix of cargo and passenger. A whole group of people waited in a terminal building as merchant groups loaded up their supplies. Many of the passengers themselves were part of those groups and seemed to know each other. Tight bubbles of men and women spoke animatedly and Katara found herself drifting in their orbit.

“Once the wedding is over and the tariffs are struck, I’m going to make a killing in the Fire Nation.” One woman gushed. One of the men in her group sniffed and stroked a short beard.

“I still don’t think it’s right that part of her dowry includes reparations to the Water Tribe. We were the ones that suffered most in the war after all.” He said.

“Doesn’t matter.” Another woman interjected. “There’s no wood in either pole. I’ve been selling my textile shares and buying up timber farms!” The whole group laughed and Katara continued to shuffle past them, frowning.

“What’s the matter?” Sokka asked as she approached.

“I’m not saying I’d want to go back,” Katara started and then huffed as she set down her large duffel bag. “But it almost seemed easier when the bad guy was Ozai and not politics and global economies.”

Sokka blew a breath out from his nose and looked about the small room. Being both an international hub and one of the oldest Fire Nation colonies, Republic City boasted a rich diversity in her populace. From skin and hair to dialect and clothing, there didn’t seem to be a homogenous group among the people gathered.

But they were all in variations of red or green. Having replenished their wardrobe in the North Pole, Katara and Sokka stood out in the bold blue of their tunics and jackets. It would be so easy to turn into someone else, simply in purchasing an Earth Kingdom shirt.

“It almost makes me want to go home.” Sokka said and then rolled his head on his neck. “I’m going to get some tea.”

After securing the cargo, the airship staff ushered in the passengers. Toph muttered as she made her way up, stomping needlessly on the metal ramp. After throwing both of her bags at Sokka - and shoving him after he successfully maintained his balance - Katara chuckled and helped him back onto his feet. The other passengers whispered and stared as they passed, but Sokka only grumbled.

“You shouldn’t let her get away with that.” Katara said. Sokka continued grumbling as he picked up the bags and lugged them to their seats.

“She’s so small and cute, I keep forgetting how downright mean she is.” He said, talking loud to make sure Toph heard him, and to let her know he wanted her to hear him.

“I’m as tall as Suki now.” Toph retorted and slammed her small figure into the seat. Putting her feet up on the back of the seat in front of her, Toph leered at the man who turned to glare at her.

“What’s your problem anyway?” Katara asked as she helped Sokka stow their carry-on luggage.

“I hate flying.” Toph said.

“You didn’t seem to mind when we were coming back from the South Pole.” Sokka remarked. Toph slammed a fist into the metal wall, causing the metal luggage rack to jump out toward the aisle. Katara, feeling the odd swirl around Toph’s body, pulled Sokka swiftly away.

“That was a luxury liner. And one that didn’t require me to strap into these flimsy little seats.” Toph retorted. “Why are we flying coach?”

“We don’t have a lot of money.” Sokka said as he smoothed down his tunic.

“I’m a Beifong!” Toph stated. A few faces lit up and swiveled around, so Katara hastily shoved Sokka into his seat before taking her own.

“So where’s your Beifong money?” Sokka hissed. Toph quieted and, mimicking sighted social cues, turned to stare out of the small porthole window. Sokka sighed and sat down next to her, pushing his seat back and closing his eyes. Katara sat on his other side and looked down at her hands.

It was almost like they were paint stained.

While faster than every other transport making the same trip, it was still a long flight. When the sun started to fall, people began to dig out small meals and conversations became more communal. Only a few wanted to try Sokka’s octoseal jerky, but the curiosity at least got them access to rice and a small bowl of edamame.

Being around so many people, and confined, Katara had replaced her face mask. It seemed to summon her allergies and her breathing became more labored. Being so high in the sky, the pressure would have been normal, had her pulse not seemed so heavy in her fingertips.

After swallowing a few bites of food, Katara excused herself and curled up in the window seat. As she attempted to feign sleeping, she nonetheless drifted off.

There was turbulence, sometime in the middle of the night, and Katara woke with a start. The cabin was almost silent, save for the small rustling and deep breathing of the other passengers. Katara wriggled out of her seat, trying not to feel the stiffness by standing upright. By slow, uncomfortable degrees, she unfolded. Sokka, as if lacking a skeleton, was splayed out in his seat, deep asleep.

Some passengers had opted to sleep on the floor, propping their heads on bags or bundled jackets. Others took advantage of the vacancies and laid out along the bench; their hips and shoulders falling into the dips of the seats.

She stood there for a moment, feeling the warmth of sleep leave her skin but be trapped by her clothes. There was an accepted silence, one that included the loud hum of the airship engines but was still quiet. The silence became a thing that mixed with her slumbering body heat and wrapped her in something more comforting than a blanket.

Looking again at her brother, Katara’s eyes kept moving and she saw Toph curled up in a tight ball in her seat.

For someone so dedicated to their training, Toph slept a lot. Either drunk or just because she stayed up late, Toph was often the last one to rise when they were all visiting. Katara remembered the last time, at the boarding house, when she and Toph had raised statues in the bay of Republic City.

The night she had decided to go visit Zuko.

Staring at Toph, Katara tried to imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t left, or if they hadn’t gone out, or if Toph had never visited. Zuko would have gone to Hira’a with just Sokka and Suki. Aang would have been closer during Aktuk’s plotting. Zuko would never have been in the South Pole.

Someone coughed in their sleep and Katara turned away.

Walking to the front of the cabin, Katara jumped when she found a crewmember awake. The woman smiled, tired, and started to stand.

“Did you need anything Miss?” The woman asked and Katara held up her hands.

“Oh no, I’m fine.” She said in a hurry. The woman nodded and sat back down. The person next to her, asleep, roused a little and made a noise.

“Is there a way outside?” Katara asked. The woman gestured to a latched door at the end of the aisle behind Katara.

“During the day we travel too fast to stand outside.” The woman said. “But right now should be safe.”

After thanking the woman, Katara made her way to the door and quietly unlatched it. The metal resisted and she closed her eyes till the latch lifted completely free of the catch. Then, putting her shoulder to the door, she pushed it slowly outward.

The night air was cooler and on the walk there was certainly a strong wind. Katara had to focus and shut the door without letting it wrench free of her hands. It still shut harder than she had hoped and she winced after it had closed. Still, she turned and put a hand on the railing, looking out into the ocean of night sky.

There were clouds floating nearby, she could feel them. Katara leaned against the railing, crossing her arms over the top of it, and closed her eyes. The air was warm and wet with humidity, but it felt clean. At various intervals, Katara could feel something more damp and much heavier. It was familiar.

The feeling of water was something she had always known. There was the touch of it against her skin and the one she felt below her flesh. It was that feeling that she drew on, quite literally, to do her bending.

Since coming out of the Spirit World, she had been plagued with another feeling. It was pervasive and Katara had felt each one like cold spots hovering in the air, on her body, or in her soul.

Now, even with the wall between her and the rest of the people, she could feel those spots. Toph carried something that felt like an inverse star; it was hard and dark and vast. Sokka had nothing, was blissfully the calm eye at the center of whatever this was. The feeling was so much like her bending, but only because it was the nearest relation. Like seeing gold eyes in the face of a stranger.

The storm in the Spirit World had felt like every storm she had ever experienced. Not as if it shared a theme - though it boomed and flashed just the same - but as if it had been at the core of every storm she had ever lived through.

Opening her eyes, Katara tried to see the clouds she could feel. Even in the complete darkness, she knew where they were. Standing back, Katara circled her hands through easy exercises, simply threading the water around her. Sure enough, the water came, and Katara pulled the stream around her the same way she drew on a warm sweater.

Whatever the spiritual poison was doing to her, at least it wasn’t affecting her bending.

Leaning her face against the stream, Katara closed her eyes again. Gliding against her skin, the water felt like a living animal. Her bending pulled away the wet, but her cheek was still chilled from the previously frozen water.

Moving her whole body in the swaying motion of the form, Katara tossed the water back out. Keeping her eyes closed, Katara shook out the stream till it frayed out like string. Curling her hands, she felt for the interruption in the water; when the water vapor hit something in the air to condense around. The strands of vapor snagged on some debris and caught up the others.

She replaced the cloud.

When Katara opened her eyes, she was almost confused when she couldn’t see it. Her bending made everything seem so vibrant. She could understand Toph much more now.

Her bending also made the world more cluttered.

Again she felt those heavy pockets. Katara had thought very seriously that they were a person’s bending ability, but Natan had carried the same pocket. That pool of untouched water that sat in the center of him. Sokka didn’t have one, and neither had her father. Malina did, and her unborn child writhed with lively energy. And it was because of Malina that Katara had a vague idea of what was going on.

The storm in the Spirit World had not been elemental. It had been created from Spirits and the energy born of it disrupted the physical world. Katara’s own spirit grappled with the storm and broke it apart. It changed her. She could recognize the bending energy in others; who carried the energy and who was able to tap into it.

As with the bloodbending, Katara was now constantly aware of this other energy she could tap into. She didn’t know if she could do what Aang had done to Ozai, though she supposed it was possible. Water flowed like chi, like bending, and it made a sort of sense.

If she could talk to Aivilayoq about it, the elder spirit might be able to explain things to her.

Looking down at her hands, Katara flexed her fingers. The purple wasn’t visible in the dark, but she could feel it. Her hands were made of paper, soaking in violet liquid, and it was slowly crawling up her arms.

The letters from Amaq had not been as positive as she had hoped. He spent a few hours, twice a day, at the Oasis. Perhaps hoping for the same mercy afforded to Yue - or to beseech her directly - Amaq had taken to soaking his hands in the pool.

_I understand so much more about the world now._ Amaq wrote. _As I have spent so long watching Tui and La. I have thought about the moon and the ocean. I have thought about Yue and Sedna. I have thought about you._

_I wish you would come back. The door has been closed to me, and I need help opening it._

Shaking out her hands, Katara turned back to the metal door. She opened it, still flinching at the sound it made, and quietly slid back into the airship. With every step she took, the warm blanket of other people’s slumber wrapped around her. It dragged her down till she collapsed readily back in her seat. Closing her eyes, she felt the rush of sleep suck her inward.

Katara woke to the call that they were descending in the capital. Feeling stiff and sore from her cramped sleeping, she unfurled herself with a bevy of cracks. Moving dislodged whatever had collected in her chest overnight, leaving Katara to trail after the other two while dragging her lungs behind her.

The passengers disembarked before the storage was opened. Katara leaned against a post and used her bending to help dislodge the mucus. The ordeal left her exhausted and she looked as tired as the crew lugging out the various trunks and crates.

Carts and wagons were pulled up to other posts, and the merchants were now taking stock of their inventory as it was loaded onto their transports. Having not anticipated the boom of air traffic, the imperial city did not itself host an airship port. Their landing had been made in what was effectively a vacant grazing ground and would have to be moved when the herds were brought in. To make it into the city was a half day ride, or a two-day walk.

Very different from the last time Katara had landed here.

“Think we can hitch a ride?” Sokka asked as he dragged their shared trunk over to where she was standing.

“For a price, maybe.” Katara said as she dampened another handkerchief and wiped her face. Cooling the water in the fabric, she left it on the back of her neck. It was much warmer in the Fire Nation and it made her feel heavy.

“Who’s that?” Toph asked and tilted her head to the right. Katara and Sokka turned and saw a woman in a red kimono walking directly toward them. She was their age, but she held herself with an older woman’s posture.

They watched in silence as the woman approached them, neither calling out nor waving to anyone. When she did step up close enough, she bowed in the typical Fire Nation manner.

“Hello, my name is Chihiro.” She said and straightened. She smiled and Katara was momentarily dumbfounded by how pretty she was. “Suki has sent me to escort you to the city.”

Sokka perked up and looked around, moving forward to look past Chihiro.

“Is she here? Suki?” He asked and looked back at Chihiro, who continued to smile.

“No, she wasn’t able to get away from the palace.” She replied but then turned to look further down the field. “Ty Lee is with the cart.”

“That’s great!” Toph said. “I haven’t seen her since the last time I was in Kyoshi.”

“That was a terrible time.” Sokka added. Toph blew a raspberry before stomping her feet. The ground under their trunks lifted a few inches.

“There was only one fire and besides,” Toph grinned at Sokka. “You weren’t even there.”

“You were attacked by bandits!” Sokka said. Toph ignored him and started walking in the direction Chihiro had turned. The trunks followed her as the earth slid along.

“Thank you for coming Chihiro. I’m Katara.” Katara held out a hand and Chihiro shook it. Her hands were cool and strong, which was surprising.

“A pleasure.” Chihiro replied demurely. When she turned to Sokka, Katara watched as her brother shrank a little and blushed.

“I’ve heard a lot about you Sokka.” She said and Sokka looked away as he cleared his throat. He mumbled something and picked up both Katara and his own bags before marching off after Toph. Chihiro watched him go for a moment and then turned back to Katara.

“I am very glad to meet you.” She said. Her voice seemed so genuinely honest that Katara felt a little breathless.

“I hope I don’t disappoint.” She replied with a laugh. Chihiro’s smile was more subdued, but more personal.

“I doubt that you will.”

Katara felt her face warm and cleared her throat, much in the same way as Sokka.

“How do you know Suki?” She asked and they both started moving to where Katara assumed was the direction of the cart.

“I attend the school she opened. I’ve been taking lessons with Ty Lee for several weeks.”

“But you’re a Firebender.” Katara blurted. She had seen the shimmering discs that laid like gold leaf on the white’s of Chihiro’s eyes. The same eyes glanced at her again and Katara had to lower her face mask to take a deeper breath.

“My father thinks it will help me find a husband.” Chihiro said lightly. “As if young ladies only desire men.”

Katara sputtered and her ears burned as she heard Chihiro laugh softly.

“Are you from the colonies?” Katara asked as she tried to recover.

“Oh no. My family is an old aristocratic clan. One of my great uncles married the aunt of Fire Lord Sozin, so the Fire Lord Zuko and I are distant cousins.” Chihiro answered.

“I think that would be enough bait to catch a husband then.” Katara said, then added quickly. “If you were looking.”

“There are many people the Fire Lord is distantly related to.” Chihiro said nonchalantly. “And you know how it goes for daughters.”

Katara fell silent.

Walking to the cart proved to be a struggle for Katara. The air was thick with humidity as the Fire Nation was mostly tropical. The sun was also much hotter, as if it was being refracted by the water in the air, and the haze was almost blinding. Luckily, the walk was downhill and Katara focused on where her feet were landing.

The grass was high and thick, obviously a heartier type of grass for the bovids to ruminate over. The stalks bent sharply under her shoes and became a stiff carpet. As they bent, under her and the other passengers’ steps, it released a scent. Slightly milky but acidic, which made Katara start to sneeze.

When they approached the cart, Ty Lee was already sitting on the front bench. She started to wave, but froze as she saw Katara.

“What in the unholy blazes happened to you?” Ty Lee exclaimed. Katara recoiled, confused,until she saw where Ty Lee was looking. Touching her fingertips lightly to her throat, Katara looked away.

“I was injured.” She replied uneasily.

“Yeah, I figured out that much.” Ty Lee retorted.

“A fanatic tried to cut her throat. We had to cauterize it.” Sokka said as he tossed their bags into the cart.

“Who-” Ty Lee was silenced as Toph launched the heavy trunks into the air and they slammed down in the cart, almost catapulting her off the bench. While she righted herself, Chihiro gracefully stepped up to the bench and sat down. Ty Lee immediately leaned over and the pair started to share low whispers.

Sokka jumped into the back of the cart and held out his hand, drawing Katara’s gaze from the front. She smiled at him as she took his hand, letting him help her up. Toph jumped up just as she got her foot on the boards, almost dislodging her. With a quiet chuckle, Toph sat against the trunks as Katara fumbled herself into the cart.

Moving toward the front, Sokka leaned against the short side to talk to the two women.

“So how have you been?” Sokka asked Ty Lee as she flicked the reins. The rhinox attached the lead grunted and started to plod forward.

“I’ve been okay.” Ty Lee replied and shot a glance at Chihiro. “It’s been interesting in the city.”

“Have you seen Zuko?” Katara asked, scooching a little closer to the edge of the cart.

Ty Lee shook her head. “No. No one has. The palace is under some sort of lockdown.”

“Do you know what happened?” Katara pressed.

“Not really. The Earth Kingdom princess showed up one day and Iroh sent a message to Ember Island right after. Zuko must’ve been in some sort of seclusion because it took him forever to get back. I think Rin had to drag him to the palace.” Ty Lee explained. “Then when he did show up, they announced his betrothal and the doors were sealed shut.”

“So how are we getting into the palace?” Sokka inquired.

“My father is a minister, and one recently in favor.” Chihiro said.

“Yeah, because he’s on the opposite side of Mai’s dad.” Ty Lee scoffed. Chihiro pulled her lips into a thin line and made an irritated noise.

“Not a fan I take it?” Sokka questioned.

“We all went to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.” Ty Lee said with a grin and Sokka’s eyes widened.

“You knew all three of them?” He gasped. Chihiro laughed, breaking out of her sour face.

“And I hated them the entire time they were there.” She replied. Ty Lee only shrugged as she faced forward to steer.

“Can your father really get us inside?” Katara asked. Chihiro turned in her seat to look back at her. Holding her gaze, Chihiro looked both serious and serene.

“I will take you all the way to the Fire Lord himself.” She said and winked. Flustered, Katara pulled up her face mask and made sure to cough before hunching into herself.

The rhinox ambled down the path, and the cart rolled slowly afterward.


	7. Tea Time

Suki had seen Rin multiple times over the years. The woman was built like most Earthbenders; tall, broad chested, and muscular. Having lived her whole life in Ba Sing Se, Rin often wore the standard tunic of the middle ring citizens, just done in red instead of green. It accentuated her frame and, disregarding any vanity Rin may possess, made her look imposing.

Now, Rin stood rigid as usual but wore the flowing robes of a Fire Nation minister. They were definitely more feminine, with deep sleeves and rich golden embroidery. Her hair, usually pinned up or clipped back, was given a small club while the rest was brushed out down her back. Amid all the other cream faced ministers of the palace, Rin’s earthy undertones and dark brown hair made her stand out.

The only familiar thing was the sour expression on her face.

“Rin. I was just looking for you.” Suki said.

“I’ve been in the palace all day.” Rin replied. Suki expected more and paused awkwardly before speaking again.

“I was just at your house-” She began and stopped when Rin sneered.

“I have rooms in the palace. As the Fire Lord’s personal attendant I should be close by.” She stated.

“But your wife-”

“Same sex marriages are not legally acknowledged in the Fire Nation.” Rin interrupted. Suki felt cold down to the core of her being.

Everything went blank. Something was happening, something had caused a thrall to overtake the palace. It felt like a blanket falling gently over them, and Suki didn’t know in which direction to run to escape it.

“I think it’s time we had a chat Suki.” Rin said and then gestured with an outstretched arm back to the palace. Suki said nothing, but walked where Rin told her to. She abandoned her kerchief, dropping it from limp hands along the thin footpath. Rin made no comment.

As they walked in silence, Suki looked around.

The servants she saw were Earth Kingdom born. A few were plains people, with darker skin and wider noses. They had been dragged out of the interior by some directive, or through a desire for more food. Most were the mixed bloods, the children of the first blended families in the colonies. Gold eyes in faces stamped by the features of the coastal people made her think of hidden children. They had all been collected, chosen for their placement here.

Suki stepped out of her sandals and into the palace slippers. The air cooled as she moved out of the sunlight. More servants were cleaning here, rubbing oil into the old wooden beams till they shone like polished metal. Incense, light and with a pure white smoke, had been placed in sconces at intervals. The palace smelled like linden oil and citrus.

Zinna’s house had been bright and smelled like flowers.

Did she know yet that her wife would not return?

“What is going to happen to Zinna?” Suki asked, though she did not turn to look back at Rin.

“I assume she’ll go back to the provinces.” She replied and Suki’s mouth went dry.

After they turned a corner, Suki caught sight of another Kyoshi Warrior. Holding out three fingers down by her thigh, Suki watched the other woman blink before darting away.

Something was about to happen and she wanted her warriors to be forewarned.

It was bad enough they hadn’t been able to leave the palace in a month. Not that they had been expressly forbidden, but there was plenty of signs that any reentry would be barred. Messages to the outside world had all but dried up. Luckily, of the few women enrolled at the Ladies Gymnasium, all were some sort of Fire Nation elite. The highest ranking woman was Chihiro, who had taken tea with the Earth Princess’ daughter when she was in residence. Because of that, she had a standing invitation to the palace.

Chihiro had a face that looked as painted on as Suki’s makeup.

Still, Suki was forced to trust her. She didn’t know if, or when, Chihiro would turn on her, but now with Rin behaving so oddly, there were few allies to be had. Trust was a luxury, and use would have to be leveraged.

The two women walked on, heading further into the palace. Servants jingled past them, not even sparing them a glance.

When they finally made it to Rin’s office, Suki stepped aside to let Rin open the door. Rin moved into the room, having Suki trail in behind her.

“Shut the door.” Rin said as she sat at her desk. Suki closed the door quietly.

“The princess likes the Kyoshi Warriors.” Rin began, tapping a stack of straight papers on her desk. “You all are one of few remaining traditions in the Earth Kingdom.”

“Thank you.” Suki said as she sat down. Rin snapped her gaze up and glowered at her.

“Earth Kingdom traditions do not belong in the Fire Nation.” She stated.

Before Suki could respond, the door opened again, and a jingling servant walked in. This was a young woman, younger than Suki, and she kept her eyes focused on her tray. Rin ignored them both as the servant set out the cups and poured the tea before bowing back out of the room.

“I don’t really understand where the hostility is coming from.” Suki started.

“You and your warriors are causing problems in the palace.”

“We were invited here, by Zu-”

“The Fire Lord.”

“Excuse me?” Suki stilled again, now in anger.

“You were invited here by the Fire Lord.” Rin corrected. Suki took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before reaching for her tea cup. When she attempted to sip, the smell of it made her hesitate. It was strong, like the pu’er Sokka had found in the Foggy Swamp. She touched the tea to her lips to get the smallest taste, blanched, and set the cup back down.

“Zuko and I have been friends for many years.” Suki replied, keeping herself and her words calm.

“The Fire Lord has been friends with your boyfriend for many years.”

“No. Zuko trusts me. It’s why I’m here.”

“Trusted you, and yet left you behind to go to the North Pole.”

Suki gripped the edge of the desk and felt the tips of her ears warm.

“I went to the Poles with the Fire Lord.” Rin added, putting a firm period to the end of her statement.

“That’s because you’re Iroh’s stepdaughter.” Suki retorted.

Rin narrowed her eyes.

“And you’re from Ba Sing Se.” Suki continued.

Rin smiled and sat back in her seat.

“I am the daughter of a war hero, from the same city where the princess was born. I represent just one aspect of this glorious unification between our two nations.” She said. “And things have changed. My family has changed, my country has changed. Traditions also needs to change.”

“I will go when Zuko sends me away himself.” Suki stated.

Rin leaned forward again, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them. She smiled, like a mother with medicine, and Suki recoiled.

“There’s no need for anyone to be sent away if changes were made.” Rin said. Then she glanced pointedly at the tea. “That will calm you down.”

Suki reached for it again. Then stopped with her hand in the air. She could recall the neat row of tea bushes at the front of Zinna’s house. Zinna, as Suki had found out through their conversation, did calligraphy. Her hands were pale and ink stained.

Rin’s were tea stained.

“Did you like the tea?” Suki asked.

“Of course I did. The Princess has the best tea.” Rin answered.

Suki brought the tea up and stared at the liquid. It smelled like cut grass, souring in the sunlight. Which was precisely how the small, fermented pucks Sokka brought back from the swamp tribe smelled. It would not taste better as it cooled.

Suki remembered a story Zuko had told them. About a plant his uncle found and a choice they had to make.

Holding a breath in her chest, Suki poured the tea into her mouth.

And almost choked as a large crash came from the hall. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I am all out of buffer! I'm dealing with wicked side effects from my medication so I don't know if the updating schedule will change. I am going to try really hard not to miss one. So here's hoping I see you in two weeks!


	8. Bitter Liquid

From the airship, the mountain of the capital city resembled a soft boiled egg with the top broken off. Once they had landed, the peak just looked like a row of stone teeth. Stories went that long, long ago the massive mountain had exploded, erupting with all the dragons that had ever lived. The royal city was built in the ashes, and protected by the stone crown.

Katara had never approached the palace from below. During the Day of Black Sun invasion, she had not left the lower city by the port. And while the airship had not landed too far away, their view upward was of the stone teeth biting at the bright blue sky. There was an empty feeling with that sight, as if there was nothing on the other side and they would plummet into a blue void.

Clusters of buildings dotted the mountainside. They were the herders’ huts and, from a distance, Katara could make out the tufts of creamy wool of gathered koala sheep. It was then that she realized she had never even been on mountain road before.

When they made it to the Imperial Road, the traffic became more harrowing. The caravan around them - trailing miles long it seemed - was filled with cacophonous noise. The Flower Festival was about to begin, and the week long celebration also boasted a large market. Flowers were free during the festival, but everything else had a price. Sokka and Suki had gone before, on one of the rare trips they took together, and it had ended with Sokka setting a cabbage cart on fire with fireworks.

Merchants with tethered carts jostled for position with restrained politeness, while the families bolted past. Exuberant children brayed along with their tireless jackmules, cancelling out the string of swears left in their wake.

In the heat and humidity, the commotion of the road made Katara nauseous. She hung back while various carts and carriages pulled up, seeing to trade. Either gossip or goods, everyone on the road had something to share.

When they found out Katara was a Waterbender, suddenly hands were pushing children into their cart. This one had a fever, this one had fallen off the wagon and twisted her ankle, this one got bit trying to pet a mongoose lizard.

Katara healed but felt an arthritic strain in her hands. Focusing on the healing, she mended abrasions, smoothed away contusions, and calmed fevers. Behind her, Sokka took in the small gifts that parents, guardians, or guilty older siblings had to offer. The others in the cart paid no attention, except for Toph, who was looking for something to eat.

Occasionally, a few of the wealthier merchants wandered close to the cart. They would watch for a moment, but something would keep them away. It was the most flippant of thoughts, as Katara felt her energy flag.

When the sick and injured finally ebbed away, Katara relaxed against the side of the cart and watched more closely. The merchants would approach eagerly, but once they spotted who sat on the driver’s bench, they would quickly pull away.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sokka asked as he scooted over to sit by her. She nodded, but took the water pouch when he offered it.

“I’m tired.” She replied and uncorked the pouch.

“Sleeping on that airship was nearly impossible.” He agreed. Katara smiled and took a drink.

“Hey, when are we heading to the palace?” Sokka asked, turning to address Ty Lee and Chihiro.

“Right after you freshen up.” Chihiro replied. Katara choked on the water, propelling most of the liquid out of her nose.

“Someone is certainly gonna need it.” Toph added and Katara glared at her.

“So soon?” Sokka asked.

“With the Flower Festival in two days, it’ll be impossible any later.” Ty Lee explained.

Just getting into the city proved difficult. As they approached the main gate, Ty Lee and Chihiro both produced their citizen passes. Theirs had an extra seal, proving that they also resided within the mountaintop district. The rest of the caravan was stopped, and Katara had looked over the small tent city with curious concern. Fire Nation citizens were being let in as small groups, as long as they could prove they had somewhere to stay. Everyone else were being held, to control the flow into the inflexibly contained city. Sokka wondered aloud how many would ultimately be turned away, sent back down the road to celebrate in the port city below.

A groom met them in the courtyard, and Katara paused before attempting to get out of the cart. It was a nice building, and had clearly been used as some sort of training hall before, but it looked plain. There was nothing to it that made people think it was a school, let alone occupied.

Sokka stretched with a loud groan and Toph jumped out of the cart as Ty Lee came around to them.

“Where is everyone?” Sokka asked.

“They’re inside.” Ty Lee said and gestured to Sokka for the luggage. “They’re waiting for Chihiro.”

“Are there any other Firebenders at the school?” Katara asked.

“No, just her. I was surprised that she even wanted to join, but she brought all these girls with her.” Ty Lee paused as Toph helped her pull down a trunk. “Which we needed after Mai blacklisted me.”

“She did what?” Sokka jumped down and turned to give Katara a hand.

“It’s a long story.” Ty Lee said, waving a hand. “I’m just grateful for Chihiro.”

Toph used her bending to move the heavy trunk along the ground toward the school and Sokka picked up the other bags. Katara hesitated, looking over to see Chihiro speaking intently to the groom, who nodded as she spoke. Chihiro placed a hand on the man’s cheek, smiled, and turned as the groom led the rhinox back to its pen.

As Chihiro came around the door and spotted Katara still waiting, her face softened and she walked over.

“Are you feeling well?” She asked.

“It’s hot.” Katara admitted and Chihiro chuckled.

“That bath will be cool, so that should help.” She remarked and then held out a hand. “Shall we?”

Katara placed her hand lightly in Chihiro’s and noticed how the other woman briefly stared at the purple. It seemed darker, and Katara frowned, but Chihiro only moved forward, pulling her along.

The inside of the school was cooler, and sparse. The back doors had been slid open and allowed for some air to breeze through. Walking in, Katara felt like she had stepped into bizarre version of a training hall in Kyoshi. The school was built too much like a residence, and the floor plan was smaller. Mats had been laid out in the center, but hadn’t seen much use.

“What was this building used for, before?” Katara asked.

“It was a genteel ladies’ school. Like the Royal Academy but for the commoners.” Chihiro explained. “They taught music, flower arranging, tea ceremonies, those sort of things.”

“They didn’t learn anything?” Katara questioned.

“When are girls ever allowed to learn anything useful?” Chihiro quipped and then shook her head. “That was what private tutors were for, if your parents allowed it and if the tutors felt it was appropriate.”

“Did you have tutors?”

“I had my parents, that was enough.”

Chihiro led them all through the school and Katara noticed how the other women were in fact waiting for Chihiro. They rushed to her, asking for news and obediently scattering when she gave them tasks. Ty Lee trailed behind them, looking lost in her own thoughts.

It didn’t look like a lot of training had been happening, and the dormitory on the upper level looked barely used. Ty Lee, as the official head of the school, kept a private apartment on the first floor, but even with the futons folded in the closet, Katara could tell no one had slept here.

The students here were not like the women in Kyoshi, where anyone could join and be trained. Neither were they like Toph’s students, who only had to meet one requirement to enter her school. They were all of elite families and had known both Chihiro and Ty Lee from their time at the Royal Academy for Girls.

Whatever training the common stock girls received, it was no longer here. Even with all this empty space.

“Isn’t the exhibition supposed to take place during the Flower Festival?” Sokka asked.

“Because it doesn’t seem like you’re ready.” Toph added.

“I think Zuko forgot about us.” Ty Lee said.

“The silence from the palace has been total.” Chihiro agreed.

“Must be a busy guy.” Toph muttered.

“Whatever the case, we will need to hurry,” Chihiro said, in an equally dissatisfied tone. “It’s best not to keep the Fire Lord waiting.”

Chihiro took them out into the back garden and there Katara could tell that this had been a school for high society girls. Behind the school was a large pool that had been crafted by hand. A false waterfall splashed at the back and smooth stone steps led into the clear water before them.

“Where’s the bath?” Sokka asked. Ty Lee and Chihiro glanced at each other and laughed. Sokka turned a dark shade of red.

“I have never before been so thankful I’m blind.” Toph said and started pulling up her shirt.

“But I’m not blind!” Sokka blustered.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, we can have a bath drawn inside.” Chihiro said and waved at a few of the other women. “But we have women here who have bodies like yours and men with bodies like mine.”

“I, I’ll be fine.” Sokka grumbled. “Just no laughing.”

“Only if there’s something to laugh at.” Chihiro said and patted his arm.

“And if Suki is telling the truth, you’ll be fine!” Ty Lee added with a shout.

Katara snorted before bursting into laughter as Sokka crouched down and covered his face with his hands.

She turned away from her brother, mostly out of his own need for privacy than her own, and began to undo the ties of her tunic. Her fingers were stiff and fumbled with the polished bone buttons. Looking down, she felt her heart fall into her stomach seeing the darkness of the purple.

“Do you need assistance?” Chihiro asked.

“My joints hurt.” Katara replied in lieu of an answer. Chihiro didn’t reply but deftly unbuttoned the tunic. She slid around Katara, opening the top and gliding it off her shoulders. The shift came next, then the underclothes.

Then Chihiro gasped.

“That is a lot of purple.” Chihiro remarked.

“I know, my hands are-” Katara stopped as she looked down at her hands. Her fingertips looked like they had been dipped in purple dye. The rest of the purple trailed upward, following the threads of her veins.

“And here.” Chihiro whispered, lightly touching Katara’s shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Sokka asked from the other side of the bath. Chihiro stepped quickly around Katara to shield her and helped her step into the water.

“Just trying to get to know your sister better.” Chihiro retorted.

“Oh, so you’re that sort of girl.” Toph interjected.

“I’m an all sorts, sort of girl.” Chihiro said primly and Toph laughed.

Katara tried to relax, but as soon as she was submerged, she still looked at her hands.

They bathed and were presented with an array of outfits. Toph fussed - ironically calling the whole act fussy - but was coerced into an Earth Kingdom style dress. The rest were more of the new Fire Nation fashion, and obviously had been borrowed from a Fire Nation household; the only colors were red, black, and gold.

After dressing, they were ushered back out of the school and found a carriage waiting for them. The groom, now equally as washed and polished, stood holding the reins of a Sika Lizard. When they entered, Chihiro climbed in after them, and the groom closed the door.

“Is Ty Lee not coming?” Katara asked.

“Ty Lee has a delicate relationship with the palace.” Chihiro answered.

Ty Lee popped up in the window and laughed.

“I haven’t been welcome since I found out about Riku.” She replied. Katara started and felt Sokka’s hand tightened around her arm.

“Riku?” Katara repeated.

“One of Ty Lee’s few secrets. She won’t tell anyone about this mystery woman.” Chihiro said. Ty Lee laughed again and stepped back from the carriage, waving to them as it started off. Katara and Sokka shared an uneasy glance before turning to Toph. Her bracelet shivered uncontrollably.

When they did arrive at the palace, there was no one they knew to greet them. Katara knew this would not have been tolerated when Chang oversaw the household. Then again, had Chang survived, none of this would have even happened.

But Riku had survived, living safe and happy with her new family and no past.

“This whole place feels wrong.” Toph muttered when they finally made it inside. They had been presented to guards with Chihiro’s introductions, as if they hadn’t saved the world. They were escorted past the gates, as if they hadn’t known Zuko before he was Fire Lord.

It was like stepping into a foreign world.

Katara had never gone up the mountain to get to the palace, had never entered through the front gate, and had never waited. The palace, after its cleansing preparation, gave the hall where they sat a smell of citrus wax. Servants walked by, their linen pants swishing like brooms, and glanced at them with suspicious glances. Chihiro passed out tteok, commenting on how they had not eaten; the rest knew it for the warning it was and not the shameful admonition they had hoped it to be. They might be waiting for awhile.

Normally, it was the custom to send tea. Normally, they would not have expected to wait.

Katara looked down at the small glutinous cake. Not being able to swallow with her dry throat, the nibbled half laid in her purple hands looked like a geode. The jujube paste was too sweet.

Sokka gulped a handful down easily, making an idle comment about how the red bean paste was always a little gritty. Chihiro’s face, tight with some sort of anxiety, attempted a small, polite smile.

Toph only added that everything was too sweet, chewing her own nonetheless.

Chihiro looked wound up, kneeling on the red cushion at the other end of their line. It was a drastic contrast to the breezy flirtatiousness the woman had been exuding since this morning.

Looking up, Chihiro caught Katara staring and gave her a more genuine - albeit slightly frazzled - smile.

“Did you like them at least?” Chihiro questioned. The rest of the cakes were already hidden in Katara’s pocket, but she held up her bitten one like a coin. Chihiro relaxed and Katara lowered her hand.

“Sokka and I are used to foods with more, salt.” Katara stated.

“You could never tell Sugar Queen.” Toph remarked and Sokka snorted. The pair, having found the remnants of a small broken bell, were reclined and tossing it between them. For once, Toph was playing nice and only sent the mute bell slamming into Sokka’s forehead a few times.

“I have a bit of a sweet tooth.” Chihiro admitted.

“Did you make these?” Katara asked. Anxiety tightened Chihiro’s shoulders again.

“They aren’t bad!” Katara added in a rush. “I was just curious.”

“I did.” Chihiro answered, her voice halting. “One of the few feminine skills that stuck I guess.”

“I try the girly thing every once in a blue moon.” Toph interjected. “It’s highly overrated.”

“I don’t mind the girly thing.” Sokka said. “I just wish the Kyoshi dress was faster to put on.”

“I was always curious, which takes longer to apply, your wolf thing or Suki’s makeup?” Toph asked.

“It’s about the same. They Kyoshi makeup is way less greasy though so removing it is absolutely faster.”

“Huh that’s-” Toph sat up and turned her head to look down the hall. “Someone’s coming.”

Seeing Rin, Katara almost started to cry. It couldn’t be too bad; if Rin still held her post as Zuko’s secretary then it couldn’t possibly be that bad.

They hadn’t seen Rin since the engagement ceremony, and Katara was confused to see the tall woman wearing the flowing robes of a minister. At least she still looked much the same: perpetually annoyed.

As they stood up, Chihiro bowed but Katara started forward. Just as she started to greet Rin, Toph reached out and grabbed her arm.

“She’s not right.” Toph whispered sharply. Almost as if the purple were pockets of ice water, Katara felt the rush of frozen fear gush from her fingertips and race to her chest.

“The Fire Lord has been expecting you.” Rin stated shortly. She stepped to the side and gestured with an arm.

“Then why have we been waiting?” Sokka exclaimed. Toph grabbed him as well and he, startled, looked at her.

“Oh.” He said. It was heartbreaking, hearing how defeated he sounded.

Rin scowled at the huddled trio and glowered down at Chihiro when she approached.

“We are thankful for the Fire Lord’s patience.” She said and bowed again.

“I will escort you to the throne room.” Rin replied. The tall woman then turned sharply and started walking down the hall. The others trailed after her like turtleducklings.

The wood of the palace was dark, and the way only got darker as they moved toward the interior. They swam through the murky corridor, wondering what was lurking underneath.

Zuko had hated this part of the palace. The throne room was where his father had traded Zuko’s life to become the next Fire Lord. Nearby was the war room where Zuko had earned his father’s ire. The dark wood and massive torches felt like a pyre that only burned the living.

Rin walked briskly, so at least they didn’t have to linger in the tinderbox. When they came to the massive doors of the throne room, Rin spoke to the guards posted there. One moved away, and Rin stood back, holding her clipboard down in front of her.

“So we’re waiting again.” Sokka muttered.

“He’s in there.” Toph whispered. The ice water in Katara prickled.

“Is he?” She asked, her question incomplete. No breath seemed to stay in her lungs and her extremities began to dissolve.

Toph shook her head. “He’s too far away for me to tell.”

Rin turned to look at them and Sokka stretched with a loud yawn.

“I’m still starving.” He said. Katara, needing to do something before her hands dissipated, grabbed her hidden tteok.

“Here.” She said.

“Are you sure? You should be eating too.” Sokka said. Chihiro’s head snapped around on her neck, her wide eyes focused on Katara.

“You haven’t eaten?” She questioned. Her voice was so desperate, it frightened Katara a bit.

“I’ll be okay. The purple hasn’t gotten any worse.” She replied. Chihiro started to move back toward her.

“No, that’s not-”

They all froze as the doors creaked open. Chihiro whispered something but Katara was already focused on the throne room. She was pulled forward, gliding past Sokka’s outstretched hand.

Only Rin moved faster, guiding them in.

As they entered, before they passed each pillar, fire erupted out of the torches. The path was illuminated by unseen Firebenders, and Katara feared they would light the fire screen. While Zuko had ordered they been dismantled, it had proven impossible to remove the oil troughs without damaging the stage.

As they neared, however, only the two pillars on the stage were lit, allowing them to see the throne.

To see Zuko.

He was supposed to look different.

After everything that happened, after everything that had changed, he should have changed. And he had, in a way. He was less pale, and both of his eyes, somehow, seemed relaxed. But he was supposed to be masked again, wearing a face that wasn’t his. One that he would lift and this whole charade would be over.

He didn’t even look at her.

They bowed. They knelt.

And Zuko looked over them as he would examining a selection of tea cups.

None of them spoke.

“It’s so good to see you again.” Zuko said and smiled.

It wasn’t his smile.

“We didn’t get to talk at the engagement ceremony, but I was hoping you would visit.” Zuko went on. He either didn’t notice their silence or didn’t care. Or both.

“Where’s Suki?” Sokka demanded. Zuko’s face smoothed out and he blinked.

“Off with my guard I imagine. There’s a lot to be done for the festival.” He said.

“Does she know I’m here?” Sokka demanded. He rose to his feet, his fists clenched at his sides. “Bring her here!”

Guards began to approach but Zuko held up a hand.

He was wearing such heavy clothes, Katara marveled that he had been able to move his arm. Her body had finally dissolved in the purple water. She was frozen, sitting in a frozen room, staring at the love of her life.

Was her face a golden mask now? Was she now meant to be mute?

“Rin, please go and find Suki. I don’t wish to have my friend so upset.” Zuko said. Rin bowed and walked down the side of the stage, leaving through some darkened door.

“Zuko, what is the matter with you?” Sokka seethed. He startled though, as Zuko turned to him and finally looked at him. Zuko’s face now held only disdain.

He looked like Azula.

“Sokka, we’re in the throne room. Miss Hirasawa requested an audience for you, despite this being a very busy time. You should be respectful, and address me by my title.” Zuko explained patiently. Stunned, and looking like he had been hit with a steel beam, Sokka sagged back down to his knees.

There were tears in his eyes.

“I beat your blood.” Sokka whispered.

“I don’t want our visit to be unpleasant.” Zuko said, smiling again. “I have sent for some tea.”

Zuko’s heart was beating steadily. He was calm.

“Miss Hirasawa,” Zuko continued, addressing Chihiro. “You said there was something important to discuss?”

“I was merely working on behalf of your friends, Fire Lord. As they have been in Republic City and wanted to speak with you before taking in the festival.” Chihiro explained. She lied so easily; her anxious demeanor had disappeared and her pulse was even and strong.

Suki had gotten them here, had wanted them here, but for what?

“The festival is going to be very exciting.” Zuko said and looked over at the three of them again. “I’ll make sure you all are added to the invitations for the events here at the palace.”

“That is very gener-” Chihiro started but spooked as Toph slammed her palm against the floor.

“What is going on here?” She yelled. “What is wrong with you?”

The guards inched closer again, and Zuko frowned as he waved them away.

“There’s nothing wrong with me.” He said. He relaxed and smiled again. “In fact, everything is about to get better.”

“How-” Toph cut herself off.

She didn’t need to say anything, they could all hear the bells.

The main door to the throne room was behind them, Rin had exited down the left side of the stage, to the administrative wing.

The bells came from the right.

Katara heard the doors open and there was the sound of bells and rolling wheels.

A slender woman in a patterned dress of green, gold, and red walked in. Behind her was a train of four servants, pushing four separate trolleys.

The young woman glided along, the full skirt of her dress hiding her feet. Her thin, pale neck was held straight, supporting the ornate braids of her hair. The trolleys followed after, just as smooth and silent.

“My bride, I didn’t expect you to serve the tea.” Zuko said lightly, fondly. Katara’s purple heart calcified.

Xianji, daughter of the Princess of Anyan, bowed demurely to Zuko.

“It would not do for me to be inhospitable, as your esteemed mother was a gracious hostess.” Xianji replied. She then turned and the servants each rolled a trolley in front of Katara and the others.

“I am not as knowledgeable as the Fire Lord’s esteemed uncle, but my mother has a fondness for tea. I have selected a special blend for each of you, to welcome you as the friends of the Fire Lord.” Xianji said and bowed to them.

Only Chihiro bowed in return.

“Princess, you are too kind, but Katara is ill.” Chihiro stated. Xianji raised both hands to her mouth and regarded Katara.

“Is this true? Are you ill?” She asked. She looked so concerned.

“Allergies.” Katara answered.

“Miss Hirasawa’s father is a chemist. I can send for him, if you like.” Xianji said and turned back to Chihiro. “Did you not see him before coming here, knowing that such an important friend of the Fire Lord was ill?”

Chihiro’s back straightened yet she lowered her head.

“My apologies Princess, we didn’t want to be late for our time with the Fire Lord.” She murmured.

“Please forgive me, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. I hadn’t realized you were ill.” Xianji said and bowed. When she straightened, she gave a gentle smile. “But my mother agrees that sometimes tea is the most curative medicine.”

“Please,” Xianji said. “Drink and be welcome.”

The servants poured the different teas simultaneously, placed the single cup in the center of a laquered tray, and then moved to kneel before each of them. As they set down the tray, Sokka looked from side to side to glance at Toph and Katara. Chihiro took her cup, and Katara followed with a hand she could not feel. Toph took hers and, with a sigh, Sokka grabbed his. The other three drank, while Katara held the cup in her hands.

She could feel the water, tiny blips of it in cups and pots. She could feel heartbeats, tapping as tiny drums inside of her. She could feel the energy pools in some.

The slender bride was an Earthbender.

She could not feel the heat of the cup, or her body, or her own heartbeat.

“Why is she here?” Toph interjected. “You’re not married yet.”

Xianji frowned and leaned away from Toph’s outburst.

Katara swallowed half of the tea in one gulp.

“I will be making two very important announcements at the festival this year.” Zuko said. “The first being my wedding plans.”

“Before the council meeting?” Sokka balked and coughed a little as he tried to inhale his tea.

Katara swallowed the rest.

“It seems prudent, given the topics that will be discussed at the meeting.” Zuko answered.

Toph was muttering something to herself, obviously mocking Zuko, and tilted the tea cup up to her mouth.

After she swallowed, she tossed the cup back down on the tray. Sokka, looking defeated, continued to drink his.

“And what’s the other announcement? Where you’ll be honeymooning?” Toph asked.

“Unfortunately, it’s nothing quite so nice.” Zuko said.

The servants were collecting the empty cups, placing them precisely in the middle of the tray, and standing to return the trays to the trolleys.

Katara felt like she was fizzing again, giving an outline to her body. The downside was that with some sort of body, the purple liquid flowed into her head and the room started to shift.

“Katara?” Sokka asked.

“Then what?” Toph pressed.

The room darkened, yet the torches seemed to burn much brighter. Katara felt the fizzing give shape to her stomach, and it entered reality with a sour slosh.

“Due to his crimes, and the unrest he is creating in my country, Ozai will be executed prior to my wedding.” Zuko said.

Her lungs had not returned in time. Breathless, Katara fell to meet the pitching floor.


	9. Blood Pacts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: descriptions of child abuse

The Spirit had a mission. The Spirit and the body had an agreement. The Spirit and the body both wanted the Waterbender and the egg.

Finding either, let alone both, would be difficult.

After covering the body and moving away from the South Pole, the Spirit collected the available resources. The body had memories, plans, and a name. These things would allow the Spirit to travel; however, because of certain names and plans, not very publicly.

The body was Aluki, and the Spirit became Aluki.

~

Aluki sat in a small tea shop, deep within the Earth Kingdom, chewing apathetically on a rubbery steamed bun. It had taken the whole season to get here, finding her way through coded maps and secretive sigils. It had taken so long that she wondered if her information was outdated; she had been waiting at this shop for four days and he had yet to appear.

The owners of the shop were unbothered by her lingering presence; they had at first wondered if she was Katara, seeing her blue eyes set in her dark face. Katara, the Waterbender she was searching for. The one who owed her something for all of this trouble.

The steamed bun was finished and Aluki felt around in her pocket for the stolen purse. Clothes, transport, and money had been hard to come by. She had been required to slaughter a man in Yupik to find clothes that covered her wounds, to hide the perpetual glow of spirit energy.

More travelling required passage, food, and places to rest. Some things were procured through theft. Some through murder.

She made sure not to kill a Waterbender. That was the least she could do, with their numbers so few.

“It is you.”

Aluki looked up from the purse and saw the man she had been waiting for.

“So it would seem.” She replied, and gestured to the seat across from her. Aktuk shook his head.

“No, we should talk elsewhere.” He said. Aluki stood and tossed some coins on the table. She cinched her purse closed and slipped it back into her pocket.

The pair did not speak again as they walked together. Aktuk didn’t even look at her, but Aluki didn’t mind. The memories she had of her brother were fond, but ultimately loveless.

They had been born and raised in a small village in the South Pole. Theirs had been closer to the Southern Air Temple than Haida, and stories were told about the history between the two people. Women who carried an Airbender’s child were not scorned but celebrated. Their progeny considered to carry a loftier bloodline.

Their mother had been born of a Waterbender mother, with an Airbender father.

When the Airbenders were wiped out, their mother was protected and elevated for her status. She was like a princess, if not an earthly god. She was both Sedna and the Moon Spirit, incarnated in one being.

Growing up, their mother had made it a mission to instruct them on the importance of their quarter-Air Nomad bloodline. The importance of the spirits and their innate connection to the other world being of both water and air.

For years, their mother kept waiting.

Waiting for either of them to prove to be the Avatar.

“Water is next.” Their mother would babble, forcing them through exercises for hours on end.

They were beaten, sent out in the darkness with no clothing, and burned.

“Water is next.” Their mother would state at each failure. Aktuk and Aluki could bend water, better than any other, but nothing else.

When Aluki began her first blood, their mother knew it was over. Neither was the Avatar, and it was all their fault. She would starve them and make them sleep outside of their hut without a lantern. Other families tried to take them in, but she fought them back.

One night, Aluki woke to Aktuk standing in their igloo, holding a shining lantern. His face was covered in blood.

“We have to go.” He said.

They left, and as the sun was rising, they saw the black snow falling.

They went north, moving through the Fire Nation itself by cutting down any who approached them. They wouldn’t bend, and Aluki learned how to use a blade no matter how dull it was.

Aktuk, moving her onward again, took her into another shop. It was for dry goods, and they moved past dusty shelves of tarpaulin and rope. Aktuk nodded to the sleepy looking man behind the counter. The man nodded back, and Aktuk led her to a back room.

“The order told me you were dead.” Aktuk said.

“A spirit revived me.” Aluki replied. At his questioning look, she lifted up her shirt. Aktuk leaned forward, his fingers touching the skin around the puncture. The hole itself glowed with silver-blue light.

“What happened?” He asked as he stood back. Aluki lowered her shirt and regarded him.

“I cut Katara’s throat and the prince impaled me with an icicle.” She answered.

“We picked poorly with Amaqjuaq.”

“You said he was perfect.”

Aktuk glared at her and Aluki only stared back at him.

“He was willing to rip apart the world for his parents. And Arnook didn’t seem interested in anything but grieving his daughter. Even Xai Bau thought it was a good match.” Aktuk said.

“You waited too long.”

“We couldn’t get the South Pole slut out of the Earth Kingdom.”

“Where is she now?” Aluki questioned.

Aktuk shook his head and waved her question away.

“It doesn’t matter. Xai Bau has abandoned that route.” He muttered. Aluki advanced on him.

“I didn’t say anything about Xai Bau. I want to know where she is.” She said, her voice low.

Aktuk looked at her.

“She’s in the Earth Kingdom. In Republic City.” He said.

“What are the new signs?” Aluki asked.

“You can’t go. Xai Bau wants you back to report on what happened in the Oasis.”

“I didn’t say anything about Xai Bau.” Aluki repeated. “Tell me the signs.”

“You’re not going on a vengen-” Aktuk’s words came to a gargling halt as Aluki grabbed him by his throat. She lifted him, now with both hands closing off his airway. And stared at him.

“Then you will pay a portion of your sister’s bargain.” The Spirit hissed.

Aluki’s mouth fell open and silver-blue light came out.

The Spirit became Aktuk.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confused? Make sure you didn't miss the epilogue of "Blood & Seawater"!


	10. Cut Away

The heaviness of her body and the liquid pooling around her made Katara think she was still in the South Pole, recovering from her fight with Aluki. But even as she was unable to move, she could tell the room was different. It was drier, and warm in the way a place would be if it only ever knew heat. The poles knew warmth as an item to be hoarded among pelts and hearths.

Movement around her made her thoughts swirl like dust. Her arm, unknowingly lifted, was now set down.

“...miscalculated.” A man’s voice brushed past her. It was not a voice she recognized and he sounded older, like her father.

“......moving pieces…..” A woman’s voice. Familiar and young.

“...almost died.” The man sounded angry.

“....clearly was not….” The woman sounded angrier.

“....give the princess….” The woman, still angry, tried to keep her voice low.

“I would….” The man, sounding much calmer know, became a sturdy point in the room.

There was the sound of sloshing water, but Katara could not feel it. She tried to reach out with the part of her being that could bend, but the water remained out of reach.

“...planning to cover this up?” The woman asked.

“...our family to it. It would tie up….” The man replied. Katara tried to focus, to understand what was being said around her.

“No good deed goes unpunished…” The woman said. The shock of a wet cloth being placed on Katara’s forehead made her body twitch. She felt awake now, finally, but her body was still too heavy to move. Even her eyelids were like iron.

“We have always done our duty to the throne.” The man said. “Even if that includes death.”

The man left and the woman sighed. There was the sound of more water as it fell back into a bowl, and more cooling moments as the rags were placed on Katara’s body. Forehead, neck, wrists; cool water and cleansing herbs to bring down a fever.

Then a small touch, a hand in her own.

“I’m sorry.” Chihiro said.

And then Katara was alone.

When she woke up again, Katara found herself in a large bedroom. It was unlike any guest room she had seen in the palace, and was filled with the buttery morning light. Sitting up, Katara tried to figure out what happened.

She had been poisoned, again. The effects of it had been neutralized either by her own body or through some assistance.

She was in Chihiro’s family home, and Chihiro had been involved in her poisoning. The question was, at what stage? And, if she had done the poisoning, why had she saved her?

Another question, somehow more pressing to Katara than the poison, was the whereabouts of Sokka and Toph.

Throwing off the blanket, Katara pushed herself out of bed and was grateful when her legs didn’t buckle when she stood. The clothes she had worn to the palace were gone. And the room she was in clearly did not intend to be used by a permanent resident. There was no clothes press or hanger, and as Katara expected, when she opened up the closet there was only space for the futon she had been sleeping on.

At each side wall was a door. One was illuminated with light.

Marching across the mat floor, Katara slid open the lit door. A chaotic garden teeming with flying insects and buzzing birds greeted her.

Just from sight, Katara could see six different medicinal bushes. The princess had said Chihiro’s father was a chemist. Poison would not be difficult to cultivate with such a profession and with such a garden.

Seeing no one else outside, Katara walked out onto the small porch and shut the door behind her. The sun was very warm, and the shift was wearing was very thin. Still, Katara jumped lightly down onto the ground, wincing as treenut husks stabbed into her bare feet. Walking through the garden, Katara noted edible flowers, dozens of herbs, and a wide variety of fungi. Some were poisonous, but still common plants used in specialized treatments. Hidden away, tucked among other similar flowers, were one or two aborticants.

Nothing more nefarious, whether it could be disguised with sister plants or not, seemed immediately obvious.

As she tried to find her way around the house, looking for the gated entrance, Katara was surprised to find a gardener. The woman was hunched over a plant, taking a small pair of shears to delicate leaves. The woman was covered against the sun, but Katara could only imagine how sweltering the cloth could be.

“Are you looking for something?” The woman asked, still clipping at the plant.

“The exit.” Katara replied.

The woman stood and regarded her. Katara liked the other woman’s hat; the wide brim had a veil of with boxy lace, so covering her face and neck from bugs.

“Not like that. It would be scandalous, having a naked woman leaving the house.” The woman said.

“I’m not naked.”

“It might actually look better if you were. Then people would just assume you were mad.” The woman tossed her clippings and the shears into a basket.

“Come with me.” She said, picked up the basket, and walked away.

Katara followed obediently, still looking out for certain plants. The gardener directed her back to the house, but through the front door this time. Inside, the woman set down the basket on a small table before taking off her hat.

“Chihiro,” The woman called out. “Did you lose something?”

The mother, of course. Katara sighed as Chihiro’s mother set her hat on top of her basket.

“Are you feeling better now?” The older woman asked. At first, Katara wanted to make an accusation, but was wary of the woman’s eyes. They were brown, but just as sharp and uncaring as Mai’s.

“I am. I assume your husband took very good care of me, and I must thank him for it.” Katara said instead. The woman gave her a smile that matched her eyes.

“I can assure you, we all helped.” She said.

Katara stared back at her, but turned as someone else came up to them. Chihiro, looking panicked, flicked her gaze between Katara and her mother.

“You’re up.” Chihiro said.

“Thanks to you.” Katara said, her voice dark. Chihiro calmed and straightened, holding up her chin.

“I will have to send word to the palace. Your brother will be relieved.” She said.

“Where is he?” Katara demanded, stepping forward.

“At the palace, as my daughter just said.” Chihiro’s mother moved past Katara and handed Chihiro the basket and hat.

“Go take that to my room.” She said, then turned to Katara. “Come with me.”

Chihiro stared at them as they walked past, and Katara could feel the dirt on her feet as she walked across the mats. This was a noble’s house, and yet no one seemed to care how filthy she was. Perhaps that was the difference station made.

“I would not recommend that you return to the palace.” Chihiro’s mother said as they stepped into a small room.

“I need to see Sokka and Toph.” Katara retorted. “We came here together.”

“I don’t think-” Chihiro’s mother was cut off as a bell rung in the distance. Her eyes narrowed and she flipped open a basket, pulling out a tunic and pants.

“Put this on.” She whispered.

“I won’t-”

“You _will_. Or I will make sure you don't have enough breath left to speak.” The woman hissed. Fear gripped Katara’s heart but she took the clothes. As she pulled them on over her shift, the woman left.

As her shaking hands shoved the bottom of the shift into her pants, Katara heard the front door open.

“Ah, hello. I’m afraid we weren’t expecting guests, so I’ve just come in from the garden. You must excuse my appearance.” Chihiro’s mother said lightly.

Tying up her pants, Katara exited the small room and headed back toward the entrance.

“We came to see my sister.” Sokka said and Katara almost tripped on the pant cuffs as she ran.

“Sokka!” She said and halted.

Sokka turned to her, and smiled with a blank face. Toph was wearing a dress and had her arm tucked through Sokka’s.

“Katara, I’m so glad to see you well. After you fainted, the princess was so worried.” Sokka said.

“We’re so grateful that Chihiro was around.” Toph added, but didn’t look at her.

“What’s happened?” Katara asked softly. The fear had been replaced by horror and she glanced at Chihiro’s mother.

“You fainted, probably due to your illness.” Sokka said. “But now that you’re healthy, you can join us for the Flower Festival at the palace.”

“The Fire Lord has been very generous.” Toph stated.

Katara staggered backward and felt hands tighten around her arms.

“As you can see, your sister is still not completely well.” Chihiro’s father said. “My wife took her out for a stroll in the fresh air but it has tired her.”

“That is unfortunate. But she can be treated at the palace.” Sokka said.

“Of course.” Chihiro’s mother replied. “We will send her along shortly.”

“We will take her now.” Toph said. Katara could feel the dirt on her feet pull away from her. Sweat immediately sprung from her hairline and she tried to pull it down.

None of it moved.

“She hasn’t yet eaten. Surely you will not have an ill woman go without sustenance?” Chihiro’s father said.

Sokka’s face tightened but as he put a hand on Toph’s arm, the dirt under Katara’s feet stilled.

“We will return for her.” He said.

“We are so thankful for your patience.” Chihiro’s father replied.

They all bowed and Sokka and Toph left the house. Almost as soon as the door had shut, Chihiro’s father released Katara.

“You are a danger to our family.” He said.

“We don’t allow danger into our home.” His wife said.

“What did you do to them?” Katara demanded, spinning to face them.

“Treated them as guests, as you clearly saw.” Chihiro’s mother said.

“That’s not-” Katara said but stopped as Chihiro’s father advanced.

“I don’t care about them, and I don’t care about you. I care about my daughter.” He said.

“So you need to leave.” Chihiro’s mother said.

A servant came and took Katara back into the small room, shoving her down onto a stool. When he stepped away, Katara looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Tools and thick gloves were hung on pegs, and the clothes she was wearing her stained but cleaned. A servant’s closet then.

This servant grabbed hair and yanked. Just as she started to protest, he left go.

Or, actually, her hair released her.

“What-” She started and the man tossed the long tail of hair into a bucket. Tears filled her eyes and Katara was too stunned to move.

Facing her now, the man shoved boots onto her lap before tossing a thick pair of socks at her.

“Hurry. I have to get something for the scar.” He said. Numb, Katara leaned forward to pull on the socks and didn’t even hear as the boots tumbled down to the floor. Her hair did not surge forward and she felt a cool breeze on the back of her neck.

“Quickly.” The man snapped. As Katara started to cry, he sighed impatiently and knelt at her feet. He tugged up the socks and shoved the boots onto her feet, tying them up quickly. Then he stood and wrapped a handkerchief around her neck, taking care to keep it loose.

“Let’s go.” He said and yanked her up. As they returned to the front room, Chihiro’s mother held a new basket filled with fresh cut flowers.

“It’s close enough to the festival that many shops are trying to sell their blossoms before they have to give them away. You’ll look like one of the workers.” She said.

“The girl is too dark.” The servant countered.

“A colonial bastard.”

“Her eyes.”

“No one cares about a bastard.”

Chihiro’s mother handed Katara the basket just as her husband walked into the room.

“Leave now. We have to construct your escape.” He said. Katara only stared at him and the servant pushed her to the door.

He opened it and shoved her out.

“Go.” He ordered and slid the door closed in her face.

Blinking, Katara turned and stumbled off the porch, nearly losing her basket of flowers. The boots were half a size too big and slid off her heel with every step. She felt like a child, clomping along in her father’s boots, moving down the stone path.

She reached a gate and opened it. She stepped through and closed it.

The imperial city bustled around her. It was the last day before the festival and the roads were clogged with people and carts. The air smelled like crushed flowers and spice. Sunlight poured over her but she felt cold.

She couldn’t breathe.

Her fingers tugged at the handkerchief around her neck, feeling it tighten as she struggled. Someone bumped into her and she stumbled; bright pink flowers dropped onto the gray stones like paint. The world reeled and Katara wonder for one lucid moment if she hadn’t actually been cleansed of the poison.

“Are you okay?” A man, sounding frantic. More hands on her and Katara tried to jerk herself free.

“Please, you need to sit.” The man was more earnest now and gently guided Katara down. She was suddenly in the shade and the difference made her step back into herself.

“Do you need water?” A young woman asked and handed her a cup.

“Thank you.” Katara said. She took the cup as the man took her basket and she drank. The water was cool, and made her feel a bit calmer.

“The sun can be dangerous if you’re not used to it.” The man said.

“My hair…” Katara trailed off and started to reach back to touch it.

“Looks like you went to a butcher instead of a barber.” The woman said.

“Riku.” The man said sharply. Katara looked up.

Mother of Faces could not change Azula’s eyes.

Riku stood in front of her, swinging the basket of flowers so that it tapped lightly against her legs. Her hair was longer and pulled back to show off a much rounder face. Katara hadn’t noticed before that just as Azula had resembled Ursa, so did Riku resemble Noriko.

Riku frowned and tilted her head.

“I know you.” She said. Katara nodded and turned to face Noren. He looked back at her, surprised. Then he nodded and turned back to Riku.

“She was with us during the autumn. After your accident.” Noren said. Katara, feeling numb and empty, sat back and continued to drink the water. The table held the remnants of a meal, and there was a squat teapot sitting on a stand.

“With the Fire Lord?” Riku inquired. Katara focused on the teapot, trying to feel for the liquid inside of it.

“Yes.” Noren replied.

“Then why does she look like a peasant?” Riku asked.

The teapot was mute and Katara scowled as she lifted her hand.

“Riku, that’s not nice.”

Perhaps the teapot is empty.

“I’m sorry father but she’s filthy.”

“That’s not-”

“Why is she staring at the teapot?”

“Katara?”

Katara turned and looked at Noren.

“I can’t bend.” She stated.

“Probably because your hand is gross and purple.” Riku said and set the basket down. She moved to the table and grabbed the handle of the teapot as Katara stared at her hands.

They were completely purple.

Riku poured out a cup of tea and set the teapot back on its stand before handing the cup to Katara. The tea had gone cold, she had seen it in the other cups, but this one was steaming.

Riku’s bending was doing much better.

“Of course, firebending can’t be blocked so easily. The other styles are simply too weak.” Riku said.

“Riku!” Noren snapped and Riku rolled her eyes.

“I think the princess is trying to kill me and I have to leave the city.” Katara said in a rush, looking into both the cup of water and the cup of tea. The liquid stayed quiet.

“Then why are you still in the city?” Riku questioned.

Noren whisked them all away, back to the apartment he kept with Riku. It was small, but due to its existence inside the stone crown, was much nicer than most Katara had seen in her travels. Still, Noren apologized as he picked up discarded coats and socks while Riku took the flowers into the kitchen.

“Riku and I tend to have a much more relaxed relationship with laundry.” Noren said with a laugh.

Katara stayed silent as she walked further, looking around at the rest of the clutter.

A thin stack of papers had been neatly collected, and Katara pushed lightly at the sheets with her fingers. They were letters from Noriko with a few pages of Kiyi’s drawings interjected.

Zuko had the same handwriting as his mother.

“Noriko is still waiting for the Mother of Faces. She wants to remember all of her children.” Noren said softly as he walked up behind her.

“I don’t think that will matter much.” Katara said. “Riku seems happy and someone is making sure Zuko can’t function on his own.”

“What has happened to Zuko?”

Katara shook her head and looked around the room again.

“He’s being controlled, but I can’t tell by whom or for what reason.” She said and shrugged. “Maybe it’s the Earth Kingdom, but maybe it’s a bunch of Fire Nation nobles trying to take over.”

“But you said the princess wanted to kill you? Who is that?”

“Xianji is Zuko’s fiancee. But her mother rules the kingdom of Anyan, and is also a princess. But none of that might matter because their could be a conspiracy to use the Earth Kingdom marriage as a way to get rid of Zuko. So maybe the princess doesn’t want to kill me. Who really knows? Maybe,” Katara started to laugh and put her hands into her hair. “Maybe the only people I’ve talked to are lying about the whole thing but I’m so stupid that I’m traumatized by a haircut and believe them.”

“Katara-” Noren said and Katara could feel him reaching for her. She spun and slapped his hand away, feeling hot tears stream down her face.

“And I can’t even bend. How am I supposed to save anyone if I can’t bend?” She snapped.

“I can bend.” Riku said. Katara sniffed and rubbed her eyes along her arm.

“Sweetheart, this isn’t-” Noren started but was interrupted by Riku.

“I want to help the Fire Lord.” She said.

“Why?” Katara questioned.

“I know he pays for this apartment, and my doctors, and my teachers. Father says that it’s because my mother had another husband and had a child and the previous Fire Lord is the reason why I don’t have a brother anymore. So I know this Fire Lord is trying to help me. If I can help him, then I won’t owe him as much.” Riku shrugged. It was so bizarre to hear her ramble and speak so frankly. Everything about Azula had been calculated and cruel.

“There’s nothing you can do to help.” Katara said.

“Looks like I can do more than you can at the present.” Riku countered.

“You have appointments, Riku.” Noren said. Riku rolled her eyes and threw herself down on a couch.

“Stay here tonight Katara. We’ll get you out of the city tomorrow.” He continued.

Riku did have appointments to keep, and Noren made his apologies as they left Katara in the apartment. Alone now, Katara wandered through the rooms. It was small and the tiny piles of clutter made it feel smaller. Noren, ever the actor, had script pages in various stages of editing tossed across most of the surfaces. In the bedroom, the two futons were still laid out and Katara found more paper.

An angry drawing caught Katara’s eye and she crouched down to look closer. Brushing some of the papers away with her fingertips, she revealed the image.

With only a charcoal stick, the images were still very clearly of birds made of flames attacking a cowering figure. Another paper depicted a larger version of the flame feather birds, this one with a crown of spikes. The final one she saw was of two dragons, one biting into the others neck while being impaled with its claws.

The biting dragon had a scarred left eye.

Back in the sitting room, Katara found more papers, though kept in an orderly stack. On every page was Riku’s name along with other names and the title MATSU INSTITUTE at the top. Various doctors recorded every interaction, every diagnosis, and every medication. Riku was being treated for mild dementia praecox with lithium salts and opium. Katara knew about opium, having been educated in its uses as a pain reliever and calming medicine. Everything else was completely foreign.

Sitting down on the couch, Katara idly touched her hair again. For a moment, she believed she had been poured into the wrong jug. Her hands were not purple, she was a Waterbender, and her hair was long enough to ensnare the Fire Lord’s fingers. But none of that was true. The poisons had finally and completely dissolved her body and now she was someone else.

The world was showing her that this was true. Her brother was no longer her brother. Zuko was no longer her lover. Her home was not in the Poles and the Avatar did not seek her out. She was just a colonial bastard with blue eyes and dye stained hands.

Katara stared at her hands.

Between Riku’s appointments with her doctors and her firebending instructor, Noren brought back some lunch. Noren tried to outline some plan of getting Katara out of the city safely. Leaving before the festival wouldn’t normally be such a problem, except that now the city was actively looking for her.

In just the course of a few hours, an announcement had been issued that Katara had been overcome by a fever and gone missing. As she was a close, personal friend to the Fire Lord, and with the politics as they were, the palace had demanded that Katara be found before something horrible befell her.

The gates, both in and out, were now being meticulously guarded.

“We’ll try to get you out as soon as possible, but you may have to wait out the festival.” Noren said.

“That’s incredibly dangerous for you. It’s only a matter of time before they track down the secret apartment the palace is paying for and check it out.” Katara countered.

“We don’t really have another option.” Noren said. “Not a safe one.”

“Nothing is safe father.” Riku said as she gathered her pills in her hand. “Only the ones afraid of fire are the ones who are burned.”

Riku stared at Katara as she put the pills in her mouth and took a drink of water. 


	11. Moonlight and Caverns

“Go to her.” 

Sokka woke from his dream with a start. He was panicked, and could feel his heart trembling. He looked around, dazed, and felt the night breeze stick to the coolness of tears on his face. 

He had fallen asleep in a garden. The garden was familiar, but Sokka had no recollection of getting there. Looking up, he stared at the bright face of the full moon.

“I don’t understand.” He whispered.

“Excuse me?” 

Sokka turned and saw a palace guard approach. Stiffening, he tried not to panic.

“My name is Ming.” The guard said. She seemed just as hesitant as he.

“How did I get here?” Sokka asked. His confusion deepened when Ming seemed to give a sigh of relief. 

“I’m not sure. But I’m glad you’re back to your senses.” She replied.

“My senses?” Sokka repeated in question. Ming looked around and then faced him, shaking her head. 

“We can’t talk here. Come with me.” She said and beckoned. Sokka followed her back into the palace, realizing he had exited through Rin’s office. They moved quietly, and Sokka stumbled when Ming suddenly grabbed him and pulled him through a narrow opening in the wall. Ming shut the door behind them and they were both sealed in darkness. It gave Sokka some vertigo, and he fell harder than expected into the wall behind him.

“Sorry, I’m not a bender.” Ming whispered. Then she grabbed his hand, guiding him forward. “Come on, there is a torch further in.

“Where are we going?” Sokka asked.

“Somewhere safe. Away from the servants.” She replied.

They turned a corner and Ming stopped them. When she released his hand, Sokka again felt like he was suspended in a void. He heard her click something, could almost feel the grind of metal against metal, and then saw a tongue of flame erupt. It illuminated a small portion of the dark, and Sokka watched as Ming touched the flame to a torch head. When it caught, Ming flicked the lid of the lighter shut and shoved it into her pocket. 

“We’re almost there.” She said.

Sokka knew about the secret passageways. He and Zuko had use them multiple times when they wanted to get around the vast palace without running into Mai, or Rin. So it was alarming when Ming dragged him through another opening, and Sokka could taste the dust in the air. Ming handed him the torch while she shoved the door closed, and Sokka looked down at their path.

The stone stairs were also unexpected.

“I don’t really like the idea of going down some creepy stairs with a Fire Nation guard I don’t know.” Sokka stated.

Ming chuckled when she took the torch back.

“I’m a friend of General Iroh’s. I used to bring him tea when he was imprisoned in the city.” She replied. Ming paused, but didn’t turn back to Sokka when she spoke.

“He saved me during the Day of Black Sun.” She added. Sokka sunk a little, feeling awkward, and Ming moved down the stairs. 

“Sorry about that.” Sokka said as he followed her.

“That’s war for you.” Ming said lightly. “I just didn’t expect it, since I was only a prison guard.” 

The stairs were old and had been worn down from years of use. With the film of dust making them unreliable, Sokka kept one hand on the wall. The wood quickly disappeared, however, and Sokka could feel the rough stone catch at his skin.

Volcanoes were common in this area. Zuko had told him about the chain of spouts at the ocean floor, and how one had pierced skyward to make the larger island of the Fire Nation. After a massive eruption, the volcano fell dormant, and the first Fire Nation settlers created the two kingdoms. 

Rivers of magma still existed just under the crust of the island. Sokka had seen one first hand of course. It had terrified him, and the thought gave him anxiety at random moments when he would visit the palace. Zuko laughed it off, though it gave him a different sort of anxiety.

The most prestigious families of Firebenders could bend lava after all. 

Just not Zuko. 

That might have been the reason why they never traversed down here, or else even Zuko was ignorant of this staircase. The royal safe room was away from the palace and Zuko had never even mentioned this.

Sokka frowned as he moved deeper down the throat of the volcano. The air was stifling - both too warm and too sedentary - and he struggled to keep from coughing. 

“I swear we’re close.” Ming said.

“Close to where?” Sokka questioned. 

“There’s a cavern here. Apparently Fire Lord Sozin made it and kept a lot of secret stuff here.” Ming said. As she was speaking, Sokka could feel the promise of moving air and his throat tightened on dust. 

“How did _you_ find it?”

“Well,” Ming hesitated. “I was trying to get away from the servants - they don’t like any of the royal guards - and I knew there were secret passages. I just started tapping on a random wall, and found this one.”

They reached the bottom and Ming raised her torch to illuminate the stone door. 

“Please tell me you can open it.” Sokka said.

Ming chuckled again. “Not in the slightest.”

“Then how did you get in the last time?”

“It was open last time.” Ming grinned at him. “But don’t worry.” 

She knocked against the stone door; the soft _pat_ of her skin against the rock sounded mute. Sokka sighed, just as the door shook. 

The door jumped backward and a gust of cool air rushed in, blowing out the torch. There was light in the open cavern, and Sokka gaped as they walked in. 

The igneous rock was pockmarked, rough, and gray. But dotting every surface were pools of obsidian, some looking like black ponds suspended on a wall. The stairs and the cavern had been made by bending lava, which made Sokka feel like he was standing in the mouth of a terrible beast. 

“Come on.” Ming said and started to walk further into the cavern.

There were a number of people standing around a large wooden table, talking to each other.  Sokka approached slowly, still uneasy, and watched them. One figure turned as Ming walked over, and she seemed familiar. 

“Sokka?” The figure called out.

Sokka straightened in recognition and hurried over.

“Linh!” He said and the two rushed to embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” Linh said in a rush, then stepped back. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“What’s happened?” Sokka asked.

Linh looked pained and then turned to gesture at the table.  

“We’ll have to explain.” She said and they moved over together. “Do you remember anything?”

“I remember seeing Zuko and, getting ill? I don’t know. But then I woke up in a garden.” Sokka explained.

They stepped up to the table and Sokka looked at the others. There were five people, and outside of Ming who was still a stranger, he recognized none of them. One was a small woman, with a mottled complexion and two different colored eyes. Another was a taller, older woman with wrinkles so deeply set her face looked like a carving. A pair of men were a version of the women; the younger one was tall and thin, while the older man was missing an eye and about three days past his last shave. The fifth stood off, watching the others. 

“Everyone, this is Sokka. Sokka, this is the resistance.” Linh said and the small group laughed. 

“Shin-hye is the Earthbender, she’s from a colony and works in the laundry.” Ming said and the small woman raised a hand in greeting. “Izota and Koji are guards, Chuluuny is a cook, and Leung over there is a scribe.” 

All the others nodded or mumbled some greeting and Sokka only blinked. 

“What is going on?” He asked. Ming and Linh shared a glance, and Linh sighed.

“We’re not completely certain. Only that someone in the princess’s retinue is brainwashing everyone in the palace.” She said. 

“Like the Dai Li?” He asked. 

Sokka and Suki had told Kyoshi all about the Dai Li and it had become a favored one to pull out during feasts. Linh shrugged her shoulders.

“Perhaps, but we don’t know how it happens, only that it happens quickly.” She said.

“I know the tea is part of it.” Chuluuny added. “It makes everyone more suggestible.” 

“Who handles the tea?” Sokka asked.

“The servants. They don’t even allow us to boil the water.” She replied. 

“And now with the princess here.” Koji said and shuddered. 

“But why?” Sokka frowned and rubbed his forehead. He tried to remember what had happened before he had fainted. Before he had woken up in the garden. 

“We don’t know.” Linh said.

“Mostly because we don’t know who’s behind it.” Ming added.

“Who has been affected?” Sokka asked.

“The Fire Lord, clearly.” Izota answered quickly. “There’s no other reason for him to pick such a rice cake of a wife.” 

“Rin went a few weeks ago, and now her wife’s missing.” Ming said. She again looked over at Linh and Sokka glanced between them both.

“That was when the princess arrived.” Linh said, then finally faced Sokka. “And when Suki was served tea.” 

Sokka reeled and grabbed onto the table. 

“Anyone else?” He asked, his chest heavy.

“Toph. She was with you.” Linh said. Sokka snapped his head up to look at her.

“Me?” He repeated. Linh nodded.

Sokka stared back down at the table, trying to think. He had gone to see Zuko, yes, and Toph had been with him. Xianji had brought the tea, but delayed after Chihiro had said…

“Katara.” Sokka stood up and looked around at everyone. 

“Where’s my sister?” He questioned. 

“We don’t know where she is. Chihiro’s family took her and then she escaped.” Ming said.

“So they say.” Izota growled. Koji finally elbowed him, but Sokka moved around the table.

“What do you mean?” Sokka asked.

“Izota.” Ming said, but Sokka held up his hand.

“What do you mean?” He repeated.

“The Hirasawas are poisoners. The husband is a chemist and the wife is a botanist, between them they can kill an army of men.” Izota stated. 

“You don’t know if that’s true.” Chuluuny snapped.

“The last Fire Lady was a poisoner, we all knew that too.” Izota spat back, then turned to Sokka. “She was a fantastic woman, may her ashes lie in peace, but we all know she poisoned Fire Lord Azulon.” 

“We don’t know that!” Chuluuny interjected. 

“We do because she did, and she got the plants from the Hirasawas.” Izota countered. 

“Is my sister dead?” Sokka grabbed Izota and Koji immediately grabbed Sokka’s arm. 

“No one knows.” Izota said calmly. “But she can’t be safe as long as she’s in the Garden of Death.” 

Sokka released the man and walked away. 

“I have to go get her.” He said. Another hand touched him and Linh stepped around to his side. 

“Sokka, the best way to keep her alive, is to pretend you’re still under control.” She said. “And the best way to get out of this is to help us get Suki back.”

“What about the other warriors?”

“We’re doing the best we can, but it’s hard with her being…” Linh drifted and looked away. 

Sokka sighed, trying to relax. He patted Linh’s hand and, when she looked back at him, he held her hand between his own. 

She smiled, and Sokka tried to smile back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to NaNoWrimo! Everything is on fire and my word count is a disaster, but every word is FANFICTION!


	12. The Enemy of My Enemy

After dinner, Noren and Riku cleaned up while Katara sat at the table with a cup of tea. There were no real partitions in the apartment, save for bedroom. One small step acted as a border between the front and back rooms, and the front door bisected the kitchen from the designated eating section. But with just those minor alterations to an otherwise open box, it worked. Katara felt like she was seated in another room, watching the father and daughter through a doorway. 

Noren tried to joke with Riku as they washed the dishes. Still haughty, Riku merely flipped her hair and kept drying.

Azula was the same age as Katara.

During the Agni Kai, when she had come face-to-face with the crazed princess, Katara had remembered being shocked by her youth. They had seen her before, and the makeup had made her seem older. The viciousness and cruelty reminded Katara of Hama. When she realized that Azula was not actually a gnarled hag, Katara became more frightened. 

As she learned later, Azula hadn’t even had her first moon’s blood before that fight. 

They were both twenty-one now. 

Whatever the Mother of Faces had meant to take, so much more had disappeared. Riku was still like an adolescent, and had a hard time working through basic concepts. Noren had insisted on maintaining her schedule, so he had pulled out the day’s receipts and talked about their purchases. Riku, not being able to grasp the concept of making change, had gotten frustrated and threw the purse into the sitting room. 

What settled inside of Katara wasn’t pity, but a similar sort of sadness.

When Katara had finished her tea and the dishes were put away, Riku showed her to the communal toilet down the main hall. They washed and returned, both of them changing into one of Riku’s shifts. Noren made his apologies for not having clean blankets and then left the two alone, shutting the only real door in the apartment.

If a step had made a barrier, the door sealed them into another world.

Riku settled into her futon while Katara turned down the lamp. Neither of them spoke, and Katara took longer to lie still just to make noise.

Their breathing became a type of dialogue.

They didn’t try to pretend to be asleep, and Riku’s breathing was even. Katara kept holding hers, indecisive about what she would do. Finally, when the lights went out in the sitting room, Katara let out a breath. 

“So you’ve gone mad too.” Riku whispered. Katara blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“I suppose.” She replied.

“You have. I should know.” Riku turned onto her side to face Katara. “So why did you go mad?”

“They cut my hair.” Katara answered.

Riku was silent for a minute. Her breathing stayed the same, so Katara knew she wasn’t drifting off.

“I don’t like getting my hair cut.” Riku said. “I don’t like mirrors.”

“Neither does Zuko.” Katara replied, a little too quickly. 

“My mother talks about him. Or she asks my father a lot of questions about him.” Riku stated. 

Katara hesitated. “His mother came from Hira’a.” 

“Did his mother know my mother?”

“Yes.”

“That makes sense then.” Riku paused again, and her breathing became softer. It was intentional, though, and Katara knew she was thinking. 

“Why is the palace trying to kill you?” Riku questioned.

“Because I want to save the Fire Lord.” Katara replied.

“Then I’ll help you.” Riku said.

“How?”

“I know how to get you out of the city.”

Katara raised herself up on an elbow.

“How?” She repeated.

“Noren spends his time with playwrights when I’m in my sessions. He has some costumes and makeup.” Riku said.

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy.” Katara countered. “Dressing up makes people look at you more.”

“People like to look at beauty, not pain.” Riku said firmly. “You’ll see.”

They waited till Noren fell asleep before Katara turned the lamp up just enough so they could see. Riku went to the closet and pulled out a small box. Katara opened it, examining the cosmetics inside, while Riku carefully lifted the lids of two boxes.

The kimonos were costumes, and cheap ones, but were still beautifully stitched. Riku glanced from one to the other, nodded, and laid one on her lap. Then, without another though, she ripped the seam on one shoulder. Katara barely flinched.

Riku did the same when it came to the cosmetics. She painted Katara’s face patiently, then abruptly smear her hand across Katara’s cheek. 

“I won’t tie your’s too tight. Make it look like it’s coming off.” Riku said and handed Katara the ripped kimono.

“How is this supposed to work?” Katara asked as she put an arm through the ripped sleeve.

“The flower festival is about flowers and beauty. No one wants a damaged blossom in the bouquet.” Riku replied.

When Katara didn’t say anything, Riku sighed and turned, rolling her eyes at Katara. 

“No one wants to see a battered prostitute during the festival.” Riku clarified and Katara recoiled.

She had heard about the Night Blossoms. They were entertainers; beautiful women who were hired to play music or pour tea at a fancy party. Sure, some of them went home with people and came away with a fee, but that wasn’t what they did. 

“It’ll work. Now come on.” Riku snapped and went to the door. 

Noren, laid out awkwardly on the couch, was snoring. Riku shook her head as she walked through the sitting room, heading to the front door. Katara followed, suddenly feeling cold and shivering. 

The apartment building was quiet, but as they exited out to the street, the heat and noise buffeted Katara. She swayed on her sandals making Riku shake her head again.

“At least you definitely look the part.” She muttered and stalked off again. 

Again, the smell of flowers, but now there was the aroma of roasted meat and burning wood. There were less people on the main road, but they were louder. Fire Nation festivals took on a frenzy due to the amount of fire that was integral to each one. So even with the sun long since set, the people rallied around the mundane facsimile. 

Elbows and backsides bumped and jostled them down the road. Muttering to herself, Riku finally reached back and grabbed Katara’s hand, yanking her forward. At first, Katara tried to protest, leaning away from Riku’s grasp, but someone slammed into her side and she moved forward again. 

“These peasants don’t know how to behave.” Riku muttered louder. 

Riku pulled her off the main road and the noise dissipated with the distance. Dropping Katara’s hand, Riku wiped off her kimono as they walked. 

The rest of the way through the city held pockets of revelry, all of which were flowing down to the river they had just escaped. Riku didn’t hold her hand again however, and Katara struggled to keep up. 

All at once, they were at the gate.

“I need your pass.” The guard said to Riku.

“I told you, that won’t be possible.” Riku said, her voice harsh and grating. 

“We can’t let anyone out without a pass.” The guard replied.

“Look, I just need to get her out of here before I get in serious trouble.” Riku said, jutting her thumb back at Katara. The guard, now noticing her, glared. 

“Who’s that?” He asked.

“No one. That’s the point. Look at her.” Riku now grabbed Katara’s wrist and yanked her with enough force that Katara stumbled.

“Look at what he did to her.” Riku grabbed Katara’s face again, pushing her chin up. It wasn't about showing the scar, but only to present her smeared face. But that wasn't what the guard saw.

“We get this colonial bastard from an Earth Kingdom brothel, and her very first night she pisses off a customer.” Riku shoved Katara away.

The guard, uncomfortable, looked away from her. 

“She doesn’t have any ID and I certainly don’t need her attached to mine. But hey, you can’t let anyone out? Fine. You keep her. I have work to do.” Riku tossed up her hands and turned around, already walking away.

 “Wait.” The guard called. He looked nervously over at Katara and then back to Riku. “Get her out. If you’re going to come back, you better do it before sunrise, or else no one else will let you in without ID.” 

Riku smirked and walked back toward him. 

“Aren’t you so kind.” She said. Then she turned sharply and snapped her fingers at Katara.

“You. Let’s go.” 

Katara ran to Riku’s side and lowered her face as she passed the guard. Not that she needed to, he had already turned his back to them.

Outside the gate, a smaller version of the festival was occurring. With the gates closed until Katara was found, some had chosen to wait it out. A communal bonfire was still burning hot, and a ring of people danced while a few others played various instruments. One exceptionally generous and incredibly drunk merchant handed them both a crumpled handful of flowers. 

“Please, youthful Night Blossoms, give me your blessing.” He slurred and sloshed in his boots, pouring himself down onto a knee. Riku only had to smile and give a small nod and the man bellowed with happiness. 

When they made it through the cluster of carts and wagons, Katara paused and regarded Riku. 

“Thank you for helping me.” She said.

“I’m not done.”

“What?” Katara halted and stared at Riku.

“How are you going to get anything done? You’re a Waterbender who can’t bend wearing a costume kimono with no money.” Riku stated. 

“I-”

“When have you ever had to do anything by yourself? When have you ever been forced to deal with something horrible without a friend or fat uncle?” Riku winced, making a sharp exclamation and grabbing her head. 

Frozen, it took Katara a moment to go to her and Riku pushed her away. Holding up a hand, Riku squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed the heel of her palm against her forehead. Letting out a slow breath, Riku straightened and faced Katara.

“I’m sorry. When I get angry, my head hurts.” Riku looked exhausted and Katara frowned. “I don’t want anyone to touch me when my head hurts.”

“Do you have your pills?” Katara asked.

“Yes. Because unlike you, I’m not helpless.” Riku retorted. “All I need is a drink of water but you can’t help me with that now either, can you?” 

Katara bristled but watched as Riku walked back to the carts. She found a family and spoke to them, laughing suddenly in a way that caught Katara off guard. More so when Riku turned and beckoned her over. 

“This is my cousin Mizu. She’s from the colonies and couldn’t handle the festival.” Riku said as Katara approached. An older woman, the mother of the clustered family clicked her tongue sympathetically. 

“Oh you poor things.” She said.

“I hope this teaches you young ladies not to sneak out.” The man, her husband perhaps, added sternly. 

“Absolutely.” Riku said earnestly.

“Well, I think I have something that might fit you two. My twins have been begging for kimono and they’re about your size.” The mother said. As she stood, Katara immediately thought of a brooding hen cat. With broad hips and a long dress, the woman had been hiding a number of small children under her. A few toppled over, having been asleep against their mother’s body, while the others scampered into the shadows.

The mother returned and held up two red tunics.

The twins and Katara were not of a size.

Katara struggled to fit into the pants, muttering about the thin figures of Fire Nation women under her breath. She had not regretted the weight, but she certainly wished more people in the world looked like her. And made pants.

“Are you okay dear?” The mother came around the cart and asked.

Red faced and huffing, Katara turned and let go. The pants wouldn’t go over her thighs.

“I know that struggle.” The mother stated with a smile. “You’ll have to tuck in your backside.” 

As she turned, the woman patted herself and Katara chuckled. When she was finally dressed, she came around to the front of the cart. Riku was already there, nodding as she listened to the father explain something.

“I’m ready.” Katara said. Riku glanced at her and nodded.

“Let’s get back before anyone notices.” She said.

“Oh I’m sure they noticed.” The man quipped. “You just better hope they’re nice enough to pretend they didn’t.”

“Thank you.” Riku said and grabbed Katara’s arm.

The family waved as they departed, and Katara awkwardly turned to wave back. When they were far enough away, she quickly wrenched her arm out of Riku’s grasp.

“I can get by on my own.” She said.

“Do you even have a plan?” Riku questioned.

“Well…”

Riku sighed with exaggerated irritation. 

“Just waiting for something to fall into your lap? How typical.” She muttered. Katara narrowed her eyes at the comment.

“Is it the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom who’s trying to kill you?” Riku asked.

“I’m, not sure.” Katara stammered. 

They reached the Imperial Road, and the step acted like the one back in the apartment. Suddenly, they weren’t in the capital. The multiple fires glowed as one, illuminating the horizon behind them like a tiny setting sun. 

It was dark out in the open and the air, carrying nighttime coolness and the sounds of sleeping animals, felt like it should be visible. There should be silvery threads, like a spider's silk, ensnaring all of an evening and dragging it along the map. 

Perhaps she was mad. Perhaps Mizu, who was not a Waterbender and had dye stained hands, could see threads in the night air. 

“Tell me about the princess.” Riku demanded. Her voice was like a loose rock, and Katara almost tripped. 

“Her name is Xianji-” Katara started.

“-the daughter of Ruan, princess of Anyan.” Riku interrupted. She sniffed before continuing. “Ruan’s a smart one.”

Katara, ignorant, stayed quiet. 

“Her daughter I don’t know much about. A passable Earthbender.” Riku added. 

“She seemed kind of…” Katara drifted and Riku snorted.

“Dumb? Lots of princesses are. Or girls who think they’re princesses.” She said.

“Mmm.” Katara looked away, even with the darkness hiding her features. 

“Dumb doesn’t mean less dangerous though.” 

A flame erupted in Katara’s vision, making her jump. Riku paused and moved her hand, looking around. 

“What is it?” Katara asked.

“We’d be lucky to make it halfway down by dawn at this rate.” Riku said and strode off the road.

“What are you doing?” Katara asked, jogging to follow her. 

“Finding us a better way down.”

Riku hopped over a low wooden border fence and Katara began to see the faded outline of a cart. As the fire moved on, the ostrich lizard that pulled it was sleeping against one wheel. Grumbling, Katara vaulted over the fence and stomped after.

“We can’t steal from these people.” Katara said while Riku recalled her flame.

“You’re right. We should take the moral high ground and you can get murdered by some guards.” She retorted and roused the ostrich lizard. The beast squawked as it lumbered upright and Katara looked around wildly.

“The shepherds are all drunk by now.” Riku said.  “Come help me.” 

The most fascinating thing about Azula, in Katara’s mind, was how she treated her body. Azula had worn makeup, kept her nails long, and made sure she was properly groomed. When she was trailing after the Avatar, Azula rode as hard as any soldier. Yet still she always looked regal. She was a well-kept sword; honed and polished, ready to be used.

Zuko had no regard for his body, often punishing it unnecessarily. His was a blood-stained blade, misused and sheathed unclean. 

But now his rested on a wall, retired from battle, and Azula’s was stuck fast in a different sheath. 

Riku’s round face was dirty from wood smoke, and her thin body clattered inside the tunic like a bell. Katara had seen how the edges of her nails had been picked at; one of Riku’s anxious habits. 

But parts of her mind were still sharp, still very much Azula. Riku knew her, in a way that went deeper than her actual memory. And her years of education, to take on whatever throne Ozai had planned for her, had clearly not been erased. 

So Katara stared at Chang’s murderer with grievous indecision. 

They rode down and Katara stared up at the sky. While at Noren’s apartment, Katara realized that she had been unconscious in Chihiro’s home for at least half a day. This was her second night on the island, yet to her, she had come up with the sunlight and now retreated with the dusk. 

The road was steep with sharp switchbacks, and the night was very dark. They would approach soft orbs of light, finding wagons pulled off the road to sleep through the night. Their lamps or dying cook fires became tiny lighthouses, keeping them on course. 

With the cart, they were making good time, but the mountain was tall. 

“Do you think the princess is trying to kill me?” Katara asked.

“How should I know?” Riku snapped. 

“You’re the one with all the ideas.” Katara retorted. To her surprise, Riku laughed.

“You’re right, I do.” She stated bluntly. “But I also know next to nothing about what’s happening.”

“So why did you help me?” Katara asked.

“I told you, my mother talks about the Fire Lord a lot.” Riku replied. “She asks my father about the city, if it’s safe.

“I used to think it was because of me, since I have to go to the Institute. But I realized they were talking about politics.

“There’s a group called the Fire Purists that’s making my mother nervous. I hear more about them in the city, and some of them think the Purists are freaks obsessed over a conspiracy theory. But my parents seem to take it seriously.” She explained.

“What conspiracy theory?” Katara asked.

“Apparently, they think the Fire Lord’s sister is alive and they want to find her. So they can replace the Fire Lord with Sozin’s true heir.” Riku said. 

“What do you think about that?”

Riku shrugged. “I told you, they’re freaks. I hear they’ve got some disgraced Fire Sage who says he’s the rightful husband of the missing princess and will be able to sire an heir to rival Sozin.” 

“That’s disgusting.” Katara remarked.

“That’s the reality of royal marriage.” Riku muttered.

They rode down carefully, but quickly enough that they were at the docks by dawn. Exhausted and feeling queasy, Katara watched as Riku led the ostrich lizard off to ditch the cart. When she returned, Riku made a face at Katara’s sour expression. With no reprimand forthcoming, Riku led her down the docks. 

A number of ships were in port, but only one had any activity. It was a smaller ironclad and the crew was hauling crates up a ramp. An older woman smoking a pipe stood on the deck, watching the people scramble over the ship.

“Excuse me.” Riku called out. The woman turned and Katara regarded the scarred visage frankly. A cable of some sort had clearly slashed through her face, taking out her right eye. Without a patch, the empty socket was a knot of gnarled flesh.

“Yes?” The woman rasped. 

“Where are you headed?” Riku asked. The woman turned away.

“We don’t carry passengers.” She said.

“Please.” Riku pleaded. Katara whirled at the tone and saw Riku’s eyes water.

“Please, we made a mistake. We, we wanted to see the city. But this woman, sh-she kept us in her house. And they, they-” Riku sobbed just as the woman turned back. Katara went to Riku and held her.

“We escaped during the festival. We just want to go home.” Katara whispered. 

“You escaped something alright, but you’re lying.” The woman said.

Riku straightened and wiped her face. 

“I’ll pay you.” She said.

“You certainly would, if I took passengers.” The woman replied. 

“We really do need to get out of here.” Katara interjected, stepping forward. The woman stared at her and, when Katara didn’t look away, gave a small smile. 

“And why do you think I’d want what’s followin’ you to be followin’ me?” She asked. 

“Because a dead end means we have nothing left to lose.” Riku said and regarded her nails. “And a dead captain would buy us some time.” 

Katara tensed and leaned back, but the woman barked a laugh.

“Fine, but passage is steep for latecomers.” She said.

Katara rested against a sack of rice, thankful for it’s unyielding presence against the rocking of the docked ship. Riku was already asleep, simply lying on the floor with her sandals propping up her head. Their passage had been paid for with a purse Katara had never seen before; stolen from some family’s wagon as they passed through. Perhaps the drunk flower seller paid for his blessing with more than flowers. 

The hold they were in was filled with cargo. The ship - a newer vessel named Shinju - was run by Captain Thuy. Her crew was amicable, even if one or two were obviously former pirates. They were heading to Republic City and carried bulk supplies. Captain Thuy stressed this, adding that they kept an accurate count on everything they carried, including foodstuffs.

Katara was too tired to care.

The ship groaned as the engines roared to life. While it slowly pulled away, the rocking eased and Katara relaxed against the scratchy burlap. Closing her burning eyes, she tried once again to feel for the water under her. It slapped against the metal hull and sloshed under her, but she couldn’t reach it. 

Unable to open her eyes again, Katara floated off into sleep. 


	13. Royal Tea

The morning came with tea.

Sokka woke, again, in his own bed The meeting in the obsidian cavern had not lasted long. The group explained what little they knew before Ming brought him back up the dusty stone steps. In the hall, he felt the presence of people but saw no one, and the sensation of being watched crawled up his back. 

Still, he had done this long enough, he could handle one walk.

Sokka was not often well received in court. The ministers didn’t like him, Mai didn’t like him, and Rin certainly didn’t like him. And for Zuko’s sake, he tried to behave. He wore his best, most princely clothes when inside the palace. Outfits that he would have mocked as a child, but now he had grown accustomed to. And it reminded everyone he met that he was a peer of the Fire Lord’s, not just his goofy friend. 

In the nights, however, the energy had always been different. The guards didn’t care and the servants couldn’t be bothered. It was only if Mai caught them out and about that there was ever an issue. Admittedly it was because their night wanderings usually including exiting the palace and returning in various states of dishevelment. 

This night and this walk felt so much worse than anticipating Zuko’s angry girlfriend. 

And, as his heart sank, Sokka realized how much he would rather running into Zuko’s current angry girlfriend.

Katara was alive. He didn’t know how he knew, but she was. Something about the moonlight told him. Every time they passed a window, Sokka glanced upward and tried to recall the threads of his dream. 

In his mind, he thanked Yue. Why she continued to look after him, he would never know.

Ming bowed when they reached his room. Sokka held himself stiffly, to keep himself from thanking her, and walked in. As the door shut, he let out a breath. 

They had been in danger before. But they had never been put into a position where Sokka had to be restrained. For everything to work, for him to be able to help, he would have to do some unusual acting.

Getting into bed, he stared up at the ceiling. 

“Huh. I could just act like Paw-Paw.” He stated.

When the jangling servant came into the room, Sokka yawned loudly. Keeping his sleep wrapped around him, he mumbled unintelligible words while taking the tea cup. 

Chuluuny  insisted that she had a way of circumventing the tainted tea. She didn’t know what went into it, since it could be either the tea itself or an additive, but she did know of a counter.

“Whatever the case may be,” She had said in the cavern, giving Izota a harsh look. “The former Fire Lady did know about plants. She once showed me a book of herbs for cooking and in it was a section about healing. This one was to keep from getting sick when a person ate something they shouldn’t. It neutralizes it.”

The word had been borrowed from Ursa and sounded odd coming from Chuluuny’s mouth, but Sokka had to trust her. 

With a small smile, Sokka brought the tea cup up to his mouth and drank as quickly as the heat would allow. 

The plant had been dried and crushed into powder, then dusted lightly into the cup while the servant prepared the tea. The only concern was if the servant would notice the powder before pouring. And no one would be able to know if they had until after Sokka drank.

When he had finished, Sokka put the cup back onto the tray and smiled again as the servant bowed. The man bowed and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Sokka listened to the bells growing softer before falling back onto the bed.

The tea would work in under five minutes.

Sokka thought about all the people who would have their tea poured today. Zuko, Suki, Toph, and Rin were known to be under the tea’s thrall. More curiously was the question of Xianji, Zuko’s bride-to-be.

The head servant among the Earth princess’s retinue seemed ambivalent about Xianji. He was Ruan’s man, and spoke often about he had been selected specifically by the princess of Anyan. Xianji was quiet, overly eager to please, and reminded Sokka of Joo Dee in every way. 

The purpose of it all hinged on Xianji. Izota was convinced that Chihiro’s family was behind it all, but it didn’t explain how Xianji was enthralled. But as the rest of the group argued, Sokka kept quiet. 

It wouldn’t be the first time the Dai Li and the Fire Nation teamed up to cause problems. 

Sitting up, Sokka slapped his hands on the blanket. The powder had worked, but he had to get ready for the next stage.

Just as he rose, he could hear the main door to his rooms open. He was glad that he had requested the traditional flap be replaced by a wooden door. It gave him a few extra seconds to prepare and put on what he assumed was the mirror of Pakku’s sour expression.

Maybe he should have gone with Rin, he was more familiar with her grump face.

His bedroom door opened and Sokka could barely keep himself from seizing. 

Another servant, a woman with bells, followed by a Kyoshi Warrior. 

His Kyoshi Warrior.

There was not enough powder to protect them all, and it became a game of chance to see who the rebellious group could get to first. Zuko was impossible as he was constantly watched. Rin wouldn’t take visitors and Suki now barely left Zuko’s side. 

Barely.

Guidelines had to be placed in every person who drank the tea, and it had to be done quickly. No one had been able to tell him what that entailed, but everyone knew it was overpowering. 

Just like with Joo Dee, the guidelines were to command how they were to act, what to say, and how they thought. So when Suki only looked at him with bored eyes, Sokka understood what some of those guidelines were meant to be. 

“Good morning Sokka of the Water Tribe.” The woman said softly. She also carried a tray with a small bronze bell and mallet. Handing the tray to Suki, she picked up the bell and mallet in either hand.

With a quick tap, the bell gave off a deep vibration that Sokka could hardly consider as sound.

“You are the guest of the princess Xianji.” The servant said as the vibrations faded. Sokka swallowed, fearing for this leap of faith.

“I am the guest of the princess Xianji.” Sokka repeated. The servant smiled. Sokka relaxed

And so Sokka learned the rules of the palace.


	14. Open Waters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This chapter was added on 12/25/2019 to address a plot hole that bothered me a lot. The original chapter 14 is now chapter 16!

The Shinju was a modified junk built in the last decade of the Hundred Years War. Captain Thuy was its third captain, though she had been the quartermaster under the last. Katara had tiptoed around the deck on their first day, making herself useful in order to find out anything remotely helpful. Her hands, as stiff as they were, still remembered how to handle ship rope from the boats of her village. When the crew realized she could be put to work they were nicer and spoke freely of their ship and their captain.

Thuy had been injured by a snapped rope during a storm. Her eye had been lost but she tied a dirty bandage around her head and scrambled up to fix the large fin shaped sails before they were ripped away. She then, of course, took ill and lay in bed with a fever until they made it to a safe harbor. 

Her crew said the fever was spirit induced and which gifted her a spirit’s eye that allowed her to see things no mortal should. Thuy, having overheard this particular conversation, snapped at them, calling their stories nonsense. But they were all superstitious and Thuy often looked toward things with her empty eye before calling out some warning that proved true. 

They moved slowly over the sea toward Republic City and would take them a week alone to reach the tail of the island chains. Junks in general were large but faster than the Fire Nation warships, even while still relying on sails. This one was weighed down by cargo and Thuy didn’t want to risk losing her payment to the unreliable currents swirling above and below the volcanoes. 

Katara integrated herself by helping as much as she could on the ship. Her experience had only been with the much smaller rafts and canoes of the South Pole, and even her familiarity of the ironclad ships wasn’t going to do much. But she knew rope, knew how to sew with the heavy thread and canvas, and had plenty of helpful secrets on how to prepare congee. 

Riku, completely out of her element, nonetheless assisted by presenting the cook with a small sack of lizardrats.

“To keep an accurate count of the rice.” She said dryly and deposited the sack with a nauseating soft thud on the table. The cook, having been on the ship for most of his life, shrugged and took the bag easily. Fresh meat was difficult to come by on a ship.

One of the crew, a woman named Ankhnyam from the plains in the Earth Kingdom, started calling Riku “Muur” and doted on her. As Katara watched Riku bristle while Ankhnyam handed her a steaming bowl, she wondered why. After Riku stalked off, with the bowl, Katara approached her.

“Why do you call her Muur?” Katara asked. 

Ankhnyam was a large woman, bigger than even the men of the Poles. Her long hair was thick and dark, heavy as cords. But she was young, only a few years older than Katara and the youthful look on her face seemed out of place.

“In my language, it means cat. And your friend is very much like the cat I had as a child.” Ankhnyam answered.

“Your language?” Katara questioned. Of course there were words - the names of places or things - that she said that did not exist in the common tongue of the world. But it wasn’t a language. 

“Of course! The world has not always been so united. That’s why we have an Avatar.” Ankhnyam said.

“Well, yes, I knew that.” Katara said in a rush, feeling her face flush. “But we’ve had an Avatar for so long, wouldn’t other languages have…”

She drifted as she saw Ankhnyam’s face. The woman was still smiling at her, so asking the question made it seem as if Katara was about to say something ignorantly naive. 

“Have you heard of Chin the Conqueror?” Ankhnyam asked. Katara froze, keeping herself from answering honestly. She had held onto her alias as Mizu, and Mizu had not travelled with the Avatar nor been at his trail for Chin’s murder. 

“Yes. He conquered most of the Earth Kingdom right?” 

“Indeed. But he wasn’t the first. The Golden Horde ruled all of the Earth Kingdom before even the first emperor was born. Now we live in the plains and keep to our own.”

“You’ve had that language for that long?”

Ankhnyam laughed at Katara’s bewilderment and sat down. Pulling a talisman out of her pocket, Ankhnyam stared at it in silence before beginning again.

“We are a small people now. It’s easier to keep things if it’s shared among fewer hands.” She said finally. Her words were optimistic but her tone was not.

“The kingdoms of my country used to fight all the time. Kingdoms would grow large enough to see their neighbors and the fighting began. Omashu was the only one to come from a unification of love, not war.” Ankhnyam continued.

“After Chin died, there was a lot of war again right?” Katara asked.

“There was. Avatar Kyoshi believed in separation; each kingdom to itself. But she knew that to stay unnoticed, there were choices to be made. You keep your peace to keep your piece.” Ankhnyam said.

Katara ran the phrase over in her mind and then started with a laugh. 

“That’s why the Earth Kingdom fell as it did to Sozin.” She said. Ankhnyam sighed but nodded.

“Others wouldn’t rally to other kingdoms as they concerned themselves only with their own borders.” She said. “It is a very Earthbender mindset.”

“Are there not very many benders in your kingdom?” Katara asked.

“We do not have a king. We have a Khal. But no, there are not many benders. Most go off to join some army of another kingdom, and the rest of us stay and raise our leopard horses.” 

“You didn’t.” Katara countered.

“No, but this is temporary. I long for the day when I return home.” Ankhnyam said wistfully. “I’m getting married and I wanted to have enough money to buy a herd of rhino yaks. My bridegroom has a withered leg and cannot ride, but herders are not expected to move quickly.”  

They started talking of more banal things then but Katara continued to turn things over in her mind. 

Most of her own travels in the Earth Kingdom had been on the western side. When she and Aang had flown to the Western Air Temple, they didn’t venture too far from the coast. The interior was flat and dry, with leagues of grasslands like golden seas. The city-kingdoms there were smaller in the sense of population, and the gulfs of land between them were neutral claims mostly used for grazing. A king would often have a map showing his borders that overlapped his neighbors, but neither of them argued much about it. 

That part of the world had also been removed from much of the war; the resources were almost useless to the Fire Nation. 

Now that the war had ended the world was getting smaller. Where the United Republic of Nations was now, there had first been an Earth Kingdom city. One hundred years after its fall a decedent had returned to take it back. The lawsuit had gone all the way to the royal court but Kuei had been insistent on the idea of the URN and, without proper documentation, the claim was dismissed.

The claimant and his family had been furious; any paperwork had burned up with the original king when Sozin had taken the city-kingdom in the first place. Western kings grumbled as they finally scratched out the borders Kuei had acceded to the URN, and Katara and the others had never noticed. The war was over so everything would be okay.

Now, as Katara remembered the merchants seeking to exploit her people, the shops that treated her culture like trade goods, and the Earth Kingdom princess that sought to buy out the Fire Nation made her wonder about what kind of peace it would take for everyone to keep theirs.

After Ankhnyam left her to start her shift, Katara wandered around the deck. They had been at sea for five days and passed the black cliffs yesterday. She was mostly clean, having been permitted to haul up seawater to wash with when others could assist her. Riku, on their third night, had gambled with a few of the crew and won their rations for the day. Still containing Azula’s shrewdness, Riku turned her win into a shared meal that won the crewmates to her side. So they ate better and were treated with less suspicion, but still slept in the cargo hold.

Captain Thuy barely spoke to them. She didn’t ask about what they were running from, but that meant Katara could never explain, or even lie eloquently enough to gain some surety. It was becoming a problem as both she and Riku wanted to be on the captain’s good side. Katara because she didn’t like to be mistrusted, while Riku was more concerned with being sold out after they reached Republic City. 

The trip was going to take two weeks. Long enough for Xianji to know they were no longer on the island and to figure out where they were likely headed. Depending on how many ships disembarked from that harbor during the festival, there might even be a guard waiting for them when they arrived. Having Thuy like them might save their lives.

So, when Katara found the captain at the wheel, she made her way up to the platform.

“Good evening.” She said. Thuy glanced at her with her empty eye, making Katara wonder if she could actually see something.

“This isn’t a cruise ship, I don’t take complaints. If there’s something wrong, I don’t care.” Thuy said and faced out to the ocean again.

“I wanted to know where we were.” Katara asked and Thuy grunted.

“That’s the island Formosa and it means we’re finally getting to the tail of the island chain.” Thuy said. 

“Is that,” Katara stopped to swallow a stone in her throat. “Is that where Kiso is?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never stopped there.” Thuy said gruffly. 

Katara felt her fingers chill and she looked out toward the dark shape of the island on their left. She could remember the forest there, the small village, and a locked room containing a box. It was where she began to feel the water around her, the water that existed in every living thing.

It was where Hama had made a home.

“You’re lucky I don’t throw you into the ocean.” Thuy grumbled.

“Excuse me?” Katara snapped, turning sharply to the captain.

“Granted, your kind tend to do well in the water. But I don’t like having a curse on my ship.” Thuy said.

“I’m not cursed.” Katara replied sharply. 

“Oh? Just have a habit of painting yourself then?” Thuy asked and gestured to Katara’s hands. “I know a curse when I see one.” 

“Then why did you let me on board?” Katara questioned.

“The pair of you are cursed, which means it’s something bigger than some witch or devil. And when those curses get broken, there’s usually a reward.” 

“You sound like a pirate.” Katara muttered. 

“A pirate wouldn’t take bets on if your curse will even get broken in the first place.” Thuy retorted. 

“You think mine will?” 

“You’re standing here aren’t you?”

“So when people come looking for me, what will you tell them?”

Thuy looked at her with both eyes and Katara didn’t shrink away. Eyes, ruined or not, were important and she had gotten over superficial aesthetics. 

“Depends on who’s asking. I’ve got a crew to protect. But I don’t see much of you to know if you’re a Waterbender, and your friend did say you got tricked by a pimp.” Thuy stepped over to the wheel and looked down at the map next to it. “It’s not like I can see very well anyway.” 

Knowing it was time for her to go, Katara walked over to the staircase. She paused at the first step, looking down.

“Thank you.” She said. 

“Just remember me and mine when you’re done.” Thuy replied. 

Katara walked down the steps and further down the deck, trying to leave Thuy’s sight before heading to the railing. She watched the island pass by in silence.

She wondered what Hama would think of her.

It was an uncomfortable thought, to be curious about the hag’s opinion. But Hama was always going to be a pin in Katara’s timeline, marking when she shifted in her power as a bender.

Looking up in the pre-dusk sky, Katara saw the faded face of the moon. It was always in the sky. Even during the new moon, everyone could see how the moon was a flat disc of shadow in the night sky. The moonlight rejuvenated Waterbenders, but the spirit was always there, even when she didn’t shine. And Katara knew her.

Hama was the one who finally put it together, that there was water everywhere. And so her bending could work anywhere. At any time. Understanding that was one thing, as it was only logical that her bending wouldn’t lessen at noon during the summer solstice. But to face the recognition that water was essential for life, therefore requiring it to be held in abundance where it could, that was something else. 

She could have pulled pure water from the cactus in the desert if she had known. It would have cost the plant its life, but they would not have had to suffer so close to death themselves. 

After her pursuit of Yon Rha, Katara realized that was where her morality stood. She would never use bloodbending; she would never take someone’s will or life to save her own. Afterall, they had made it out of the desert just fine. She would never stoop to Hama’s level just to make things easier.

But what would she think?

Katara had done nothing over the past six years since the war ended. She had studied some in the martial uses of her bending; there wasn’t much she could really do when Aang was the only other Waterbender around and he never had the inclination to train with her. The healing was picked up along the way, and even that was paltry to what she had seen in the Earth Kingdom hospitals. While her vanity didn’t care for it, her name didn’t carry the same sort of renown anymore. She had decided to become a nobody.

Leaning against the railing, Katara watched as the island disappeared behind them.

Hama had lived quietly in her village. She had made friends and still hunted people once a month. While her name would have passed quietly into history, her actions would have created an urban legend to last generations. The world only had room for a few heroes, but plenty of dark places to hide monsters.

Looking down at her purple hands, Katara sank into the wood with the weight of her sadness. Azula had literally gone into the dark woods and been lost. Riku was clean of her past and the burden it placed on her. If Katara became Mizu in reality, would anything change?

With a grunt, Katara pushed herself away from the railing. Aang had disappeared and no one had heard from him. She knew he was alive - somehow she knew that his passing would not go unnoticed - but he was gone nonetheless. Sokka, Toph, and Zuko were ensnared and probably half the palace as well. She was being slowly poisoned and her bending was choked off. 

If she chose to become Mizu, she would die a slow and cowardly death while leaving her friends to miserable fates. 

There was no peace for her. But there was never going to be any peace. There would always be another crisis, something that Katara would have to deal with. There would be more monsters, more greedy merchants, more cut throat politicians, and more plots. They would follow her forever.

“What is wrong with you know?” Riku popped up next to Katara, startling her.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“You look bloated.” Riku replied. 

“Thanks Riku.” Katara said dryly. Riku moved past her, heading back toward the railing Katara had left, but paused. 

The winds in this part of the ocean screamed. The gusts moved around the islands and shot up with the heat, tearing past the peaks of volcanoes. This was why Thuy made them crawl past the islands; a lax hand would have the sails fill to bursting and send a ship careening into submerged volcanic mountains. 

In the broad ocean, they would undoubtedly zip through the waves as long as the weather held. But there was still constant work to be done in case the winds changed, a storm approached, or a simple accident occurred. A junk could move quickly, but not as steadily as a battleship.

As Ankhnyam said, there was an Earth Bender mindset about change. Junks worked, so why change them? Electricity and metalbending were new and useful, but required either nationalization or a massive, collective undertaking off all the kingdoms to make both stick. 

People jostled for power over lost land and found markets. 

Like water through rock, Katara would have to find a way to navigate it all.

Looking at Riku, Katara felt her sadness grow. She was sick to death of Riku and the pity Katara felt for the other woman. Azula could be a murderess with a tragic upbringing and Katara wouldn’t feel bad at all for hating her. But Riku was something else.

Fire didn’t change. The only thing that did change was the fuel.

Katara stood next to Riku and looked back out, now at empty water. The sun was setting and she could feel something icy creep into her throat.

“What are your parents like?” Katara asked. Riku looked at her, confused in a defensive sort of way.

“Why?” She asked in return.

“My father is going to remarry. My mother died when I was young, and this other woman. Well. She’s not my mother.” Katara said. Riku snorted and faced forward.

“Of course not. That’s not how death works.”

Katara closed her eyes, squeezing them slightly, as she pushed the air from her lungs as quietly as she could. As she took in a breath, she opened them.

“It just makes my father feel less like my father. He’s even having another child.”

“Isn’t he too old for that?”

Katara chuckled. “Sort of. Men don’t have as many problems. And his new wife is younger.”

“Fathers tend to break their daughters’ hearts.” Riku stated and Katara sighed.

“But am I even his daughter anymore? I’ve been gone for so long.” She said. After a pause, Katara winced and looked at Riku. “Sorry, I did want to talk about you.”

“No, you want to talk about yourself. You just want to connect with me.” Riku retorted and Katara winced again.

“Maybe.”

“It’s not a bad thing. But people should be more honest.” 

Riku walked off, moving toward one of the smaller masts. Katara followed her and they both sat against it. Riku pulled out a piece of rope and started making and undoing knots. Her fingers were clumsy and her knots were atrocious, but she showed no signs of frustration as she pulled each free to start over.

It was the same kind of patience Katara had seen from Zuko in training. But that was rare, as Sokka had told her time and again how Zuko would often get frustrated and set many things on fire. 

Katara remembered seeing Azula breakdown and how the fire overtook her, making her reckless.

Riku had thrown money when failing to make change.

The patience had come from somewhere, but had not been supported, only enforced.

Katara leaned against the mast, tilting her head up to look at the sky. Dusk pulled the night sky down letting the stars slowly twinkle awake. The wind fell as the air cooled, and the sails’ snapping sounded like fireworks. 

Hakoda and Kya had encouraged her. The whole village did. Kana had been sad watching her and now Katara knew she had been remembering her friend. Hama had been from the South Pole and one of the last Waterbenders. She was a monster. At some point, the threshold had been crossed.

Looking at her hands, Katara wondered. 

“I think parents always change.” Riku started suddenly. Katara put her hands in her lap, still staring at them.

“My parents are different with Kiyi than they are with me. It’s a different relationship. They don’t have to take care of me anymore.” She went on.

“But you’re happy?” Katara asked.

“Of course not.” Riku said. Katara frowned and turned to her. Riku’s brow furrowed as she jerked on the rope.

“I can’t remember being a child at all. I don’t have those memories. At night I have terrible dreams and I wake up screaming about a woman with long hair trying to drown me. Or a horribly burned man trying to smother me. Or a phoenix trying to engulf me in flames.” With every statement, Riku yanked on the rope till the knot became a tangled mess. Tears fell down Riku’s face as she tossed it down between them. 

“Someone out there is looking for me. Someone who truly loves me. And I’ll never find them because I don’t remember.” She said with finality. Taking up the knot, Riku held it in her hand and sniffed. 

“I wish he had burned me when he had the chance.” She muttered and set the knot on fire. 

“Riku…” Katara reached out but Riku dumped the ashes from her palm and stood.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” She said darkly. Katara stayed quiet and watched as Riku walked off to the door that led below deck. 

It took another week of travel. Katara was stiff every morning, both from the poison in her veins and from sleeping on a bag of rice. Both she and Riku were filthy and their tunics were heavily soiled. The crew took pity on them as the got closer to Republic City and hauled buckets of seawater for them. Riku heated the water and Katara scrubbed at their clothes, then they each worked on scrubbing themselves.

The night before they reached the harbor, the crew were in high spirits and threw a small feast. They lauded Riku’s skills as a lizard rat catcher and in the torchlight, Katara saw her smile.

For herself, Katara started to relax. They would be in Republic City in the morning and they would figure out what to do next. Zuko’s wedding and Ozai’s execution wouldn’t be until the end of the summer, before the council meeting. She had almost two months and surely this wouldn’t take so long.

It wasn’t like she had to save the world again.


	15. For Love of You

The palace was completely different. After completing his instruction, the servant and Suki left his room. Sokka watched her go, making sure to keep his face slightly disapproving. 

It was so hard to see her.

Sokka loved two women and never wavered from that fact. Other men made boasts of the loves that broke their hearts before they married, but Sokka knew that Suki was the one for him. Even as they both became adults, they changed in compatible ways. She had become the strong leader, not just of the warriors, but of Kyoshi. Her bravery and spirit was straight out of his father’s stories about the wolf warriors. Suki was everything he wanted to become, so he followed her.

Suki, being more compassionate than that, pulled him up to her side.

The day she told him she was pregnant, Sokka felt like the universe had finally rewarded him. After losing so much, he was going to have a spirit return to him. It also didn’t hurt to think that he might be the one to return his mother to the mortal realm.

When the baby flowed from her, they cradled each other. In her pain, he feared. As he tried to hold onto her, she was pushing away. But she always understood, and forgave him.

He left her to trail after his sister at both Poles, when ultimately he would have done better being here. 

Amaqjuaq had considered Katara to be the moon, but Sokka knew better. The moon was a non-Bender and did not require such active worship. His sister was mortal, in love with his best friend, and probably the one who caused most of this mess.

Taking in a deep breath, Sokka held it in his stomach. The breath came out slowly, clearing his lungs.

Katara was a disaster, but he loved her anyway.

Suki was out of commission, but would love him anyway.

So Sokka had to focus on getting Suki back so when his disaster sister returned, they could all save Zuko and maybe he would actually get to live a normal life.

For now, he had to adjust. The less important people living in the palace all met in a small room for breakfast. Suki attended the princess herself, but this gave Sokka his first opportunity to meet with Rin. She didn’t look very different, except for clothing.

Different came in the size and shape of Toph Bei Fong.

“Sokka.” Toph greeted, walking into the room on the arm of a servant. Her dress was richly embroidered with the flying boar. The gold threads shimmered on her deep sleeves as she moved, looking young and maidenly. Sokka repressed a shudder as he held out a hand to her. 

“Good morning Toph.” He said as he helped her to her cushion. She was helpless, casting her blind eyes around the room as she tried to find her boundaries. 

It was the first time Sokka ever thought of Toph as small. Her thin hands swam in the deep cut of her sleeves, her small feet were jammed into stiffly embroidered shoes, and her hair was waxed and coiled, pinned with long jade needles. All together on another woman it would be beautiful. But this was Toph. This is not where her beauty came from. 

“I trust you slept well.” Sokka said and knelt at the table, glancing up to look at Rin. She leaned casually, masculinely with her sleeves rolled up, against the table reading a newspaper.

“Of course. The princess’s tea helps.” Toph replied. 

“The princess is kind.” Sokka intoned and Rin nodded, still not looking at either of them. 

The sound of bells clattered in Sokka’s ears and he flinched instinctively. Luckily, Toph was blind and Rin still didn’t care to see him. 

The door slid open again, allowing a stream of servants in. Plates, tea cups, and platters circled their table as food and tea were doled out. Chuluuny had reported that only certain tea services would be tainted, but it would be hard to know which ones. As far as she could tell, it would be best to avoid drinking tea alone or to give a reason for tea to be poured outside of normal times.

“Has there been any news of my sister?” Sokka asked aloud. The servants were different people, of course, but moved in a hive mind. Similar to Joo Dee Prime and Joo Dee the Second just without the supplanting of personalities. 

“Not yet.” One man answered as he scooped rice into a bowl. 

“But the guard will find her soon.” Another woman continued before sliding a napkin next to his hand. 

Their bells jingled incessantly in his head. 

When they left, Rin finally put down her paper and glanced between the two of them. Sokka would never have thought it possible that the woman could look anymore dour than she usually did. 

“The Fire Lord has requested your presence.” She said.

“Yes, during the festival.” Sokka said.

“I’m so excited for the festival. I hope the air smells like blossoms.” Toph interjected. Her tone repulsed Sokka and he focused on Rin. 

“Before that.” Rin said. “After you’ve finished eating.” 

Sokka’s throat dried and he seriously wondered how he would eat at all. 

“Of course. I am at the Fire Lord’s service.” He replied before picking up his chopsticks. Picking up the smallest clump of white rice, he held his hand steady for a moment. 

He wondered if this might be the event that actually killed him.

Unable to shake off the dread, Sokka started to eat. The rice stuck to his tongue and he had to drink the tea, sending a prayer to Yue in case she was still looking out for him. With nothing else to do, Sokka ate and, when Rin returned her focus to her paper, talked softly with Toph. It was odd to see what instructions she had been given, to replace whatever thing the servants found repellent about her. 

Toph only spoke about pleasant things, but wouldn’t mention the badgermoles or the bending matches. Her parents also couldn’t be mentioned, as they had never made her happy. Instead, there were stories about the garden.

On a whim, one he judged safe, Sokka made a small attempt.

“I know there is a cottage on the grounds, covered in vines. They have the most stunning violet trumpet blossoms.” He said while eying Rin. She didn’t seem to notice he had been speaking. 

“I would love to fill a garden with the most fragrant blossoms in the world.” Toph said, continuing on. 

Looking at his half-eaten bowl of rice, Sokka at least knew that this tea hadn’t been poisoned. It still took him awhile to choke everything down. As soon as he was finished, Rin simultaneously folded up her paper, laying it on the table.

“Shall we?” She asked as she stood.

“I wouldn’t think of leaving Toph on her own.” Sokka said. Rin looked annoyed.

“Of course.” She went and knocked on the door, which promptly slid open. Another jangling servant tottered in, kneeling next to Toph. Rin looked at Sokka.

“Let’s go.” She said.

Sokka stood and followed her out into the hall, wincing at the small, frightened whimper Toph left out before the servant hushed her.

Toph was truly blind now, lost in a darkness she had fought so hard to escape. And she was alone in it. 

Feeling his resentment rise, it was easier for Sokka to look impassive and stern. By the time Rin opened the door to Zuko’s study, he felt sure that he would be able to handle whatever saccharine sentiment Zuko was going to throw at him.

He felt less sure as he saw Xianji standing behind Zuko’s chair. His anger dissipated as Rin pushed him to a chair opposite while Xianji laid a pale hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“Good morning Sokka.” Xianji said.

“Good morning princess.” Sokka replied evenly. He then turned his gaze to Zuko. “Good morning Fire Lord.”

Zuko only dipped his head in greeting while Xianji smiled down at him. The glass beads of her hair pins clinked together, sounding more melodious than the bells everyone wore. 

“Sokka, as a dear friend of the Fire Lord, I am asking you for a favor.” Xianji said.

“Of course princess.” Sokka said.

“My bridegroom suffers from nightmares and he calls out all sorts of things in his delirium.” Xianji started.

Zuko frowned and looked up at her, placing his hand on hers. Xianji softened her smile and Zuko relaxed, returning to his neutral position. 

“How can I help princess?” Sokka asked. 

“What can you tell me about your sister, and why it is that my bridegroom seeks her out?” Xianji questioned. 

Katara didn’t need to be the moon in his sky for him to love her, to protect her. It never made sense to him that Tui and La were romantic, and having Yue become the moon spirit reinforced that. La didn’t mind that the other had been replaced, only that Tui was there.

They swam in the same pond, just as Sokka and Katara had swam in the same womb. Male and female, light and dark, non-Bender and Bender. Sokka pulled while Katara pushed and they were already the perfect pair; before Aang, before the end of the world, and certainly before this mess. 

Katara was a disaster, but she was his disaster. He loved two women after all, and Yue was a moon spirit.

“My sister,” Sokka began and stared directly at Xianji. “Is a healer and engaged to Prince Amaqjuaq.”

“Then why does the Fire Lord call for her?”

“Does he need a healer?”

Xianji blinked, but gave no sign of frustration. Sokka kept his face still. Zuko often accused him of speaking thoughtlessly, but Sokka at least stood by everything he said. Any nervousness or regret would give the idea that the question was anything but innocent. 

It was a legitimate question.

“My mother has a tea for nightmares.” Xianji murmured. Sokka made no reply and waited till she focused back on the present. He didn’t care for the way her eyes went soft.

Like she wasn’t even here.


	16. Everything Stays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deja vu? A new chapter 14 was inserted to address a plot hole on 12/25/2019 and the old one moved here!

When the ship docked in Republic City, Katara was awakened urgently. Her body was stiff from sleeping on a sack of rice, but the sailors jostled her upright. They were not unkind, but there was a tense uncertainty among them. The cargo was due to be unloaded and the buyer was already at the docks. It was early yet, and the buyer was well-known to Captain Thuy, so there was no sign of a guard. Yet time was never assured so they pushed both women up the ladder to the deck. 

Katara’s fingers could barely bend around the rungs and the muscles in her shoulders were tight. Once on deck, and blinded by the morning light, she stood on the deck shifting uneasily. The stench of harbor salt water made her head swim and the choppy waves in the port threatened to topple her. It wasn’t until Riku sighed with frustration and grabbed her that they made their way to the ramp. 

“We have to get out of here.” Riku said impatiently. Rubbing the sun tears out of her eyes, Katara looked out at the buildings along the deck. 

“I know where we can go. My friend has a metalbending school in the city.” Katara said.

“Are you an idiot? The palace is going to be looking for you in places like that.” Riku retorted. 

“No, we have to get out of the city.” She went on. 

Katara yanked her arm back, making Riku stop.

“You said we had to get here.” Katara stated. Riku made a noise in her throat and rolled her eyes.

“Republic City is a massive hub. There are ships, trains, and airships pouring in and out of here every day.” Riku said. Still, she took a moment to look around. “We need to get to a safe place and plan our next step.”

“Or to formulate a plan at all.” Katara retorted.

Riku whirled back to her, her amber eyes blazing. 

“My side of the bargain was to get you out of the imperial city. I did that. Anything else you need help with, you’re going to have to figure out.” Riku shot back.

Katara bit back her retort. Azula had been a master strategist. Both her and Zuko actually. They had been raised with war, on how to conquer an entire world. While Katara had been dealing with her trauma, Riku had created no less than three plans to get them to this point. 

Whether or not Katara liked her, she was at least going to have to trust Riku.

“We’re too close to Avatar Island here, though I’m desperate to know if Aang has been around.” Katara said and turned, looking for the bay.

“I assume they’re familiar with you on that island.” Riku said, her voice flat. Katara nodded.

“I need to think. I was here almost three seasons ago; I don’t know if people will remember me.” She said.

“They might remember Katara, but not some dirty colonial bastard.” Riku said.

“You really have to stop calling me that.” Katara remarked dryly, facing Riku again. The other woman shrugged.

“I will when it stops being useful.” She said.

Katara’s stomach grumbled and she placed a hand over it. Riku’s shoulders sank and she looked around.

“Okay, food first.” She said.

Katara took the lead this time, making sure they stayed away from the streets that went to the boarding house. She hadn’t been back to this part of the city since leaving to see Zuko and was shocked to see how much had changed. Where that had once been rows of scaffold covered buildings were now just buildings. The main road had been paved with mismatched flat stones; still temporary but it lessened the amount of muck in the area. People ran stores that sold more than just daily necessities or rough clothing. There were more people in general. 

Sign posts stood at every intersection, keeping Katara from getting lost in the confusion. She heading toward a construction site, knowing that any food stalls would be too used to constant churning to notice the pair of them. Especially since they both looked like filthy urchins.

Katara pointed out a small teahouse and they walked toward it. It was a permanent building and seemed to be original to the city itself. The sign about the door had been stripped away and a board nailed overtop. “Teahouse” was painted neatly across it, with no other attempt at a business name. 

Inside, Katara took in a sharp breath. The decor was Water Tribe.

Furs hung on the wall and the mantle of the fireplace had carved images of sea animals. Cooking somewhere in the back was a pot of seaprune stew; the sharp scent of the prunes was the first thing she noticed. 

At the tables were construction workers from both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom - with a few colonials interspersed - but in the back corner was a large group of Water Tribals. Comparatively, it was easy to see the difference between the darker Earth Kingdom people and the Water Tribals. Only the people from the steppes matched their features, but their complexion was fairer. Similar, but not quite.

Among her people, it would be difficult to pretend to be anything else. The thought made her heart ache.

After the war, when the men returned and villages disappeared, a lot of families were out of work. Coming from an area where they had to contend with large beasts, hauling fishing nets, and plowing through deep snow, many of the Water Tribe men were large compared to their non-Bender counterparts in other countries. It made them favorable among hard labor companies and so Katara wasn’t surprised to see them employed in construction. She was just surprised to see them here, and now.

“It’s like you people have a homing beacon.” Riku muttered.

Katara shook herself, unaware that she was growing emotional. A server had spotted them and approached, smiling.

“Would you like a table?” He asked. Katara blinked just as Riku stepped forward. 

“Yes, please.” She said. The server nodded and turned, so Riku leaned in to hiss at Katara.

“Get it together.” 

With a sniff, Katara turned her gaze from the Water Tribals and followed the server. He sat them at a small table and handed them both a menu. Riku smiled at him as he walked away before looking down at the menu in disgust.

“Is there anything other than soup here?” She asked.

“Dried meat doesn’t do well outside of soup.” Katara replied. “But it looks like they’ve got plenty of seafood.” 

“Out of that filthy bay I assume.” Riku skimmed over the menu and set it down with a sigh.

“I think we need to go to Ba Sing Se.” Katara said. Riku raised an eyebrow and laced her fingers together.

“Go on.” She said, leaning forward. 

“I need to understand why the Earth Kingdom got involved in the first place. Ba Sing Se is the best place to figure that out, plus,” Katara hesitated. “I know someone there.”

“Someone useful I hope.” Riku said and leaned back.

“The Fire Lord’s uncle.” Katara clarified. At the word, Riku’s face changed for a moment. Blinking rapidly, Riku shoved a hand into a pocket.

“That might work.” She muttered. Pulling her hand out, Katara saw a number of capsules.

“Headache?” 

“Shut up.” Riku snapped and looked around. “Where is the server?"

Katara waved the man over and ordered for them as Riku slouched in her seat. The man nodded and stepped away for a second before returning with a tray. Setting down two cups, Katara thanked him and stared at her own when he left.

She really didn’t like being handed beverages anymore.

Riku ignored her, tossing three capsules in her mouth and drinking deep from her cup. Nervous, Katara picked up her cup. The water smelled clean, but that didn’t really mean anything. She drank and hoped for the best.

Over their breakfast of soup, Katara and Riku created the best plan they had available. They needed better clothes and Katara needed a haircut. Then they needed to book passage to Ba Sing Se, which they may or may not be able to afford. Riku was the one to bring up the spread of the purple in Katara’s body, but there wasn’t much she could do about that.

Inwardly, Katara cursed herself. By sulking for so long, she had missed out on numerous opportunities to work on what was happening to her. Amaq had written about his time spent at the Oasis, but she had never engaged in the conversation. Aang had offered to take her to various places in hopes of finding a cure, but Katara had only wanted to stay in her bed. 

Back then, it hadn’t been killing her. 

On the recommendation of the server, Katara got the name of a barber that had daughters. While Katara, still known as Mizu, sat under the barber’s ministrations, Riku spoke with his wife about buying old clothes. They were Earth Kingdom citizens and built more inline with Katara’s own body shape, so there wasn’t much they needed in alterations. 

Now washed and changed, Riku shook out the last of their stolen money. 

“I had a thought.” Riku said, still looking at the heavy coins.

“What’s that?” Katara asked.

“Is it more noticeable if you wore a necklace or just kept walking around with that ugly scar on your neck?” Riku questioned. Katara put a hand to her throat and frowned. 

She couldn’t even remember when she had last worn a necklace. Her mother’s had been packed away what seemed like ages ago. All this time it had just been her scar.

“I don’t think the princess noticed that I ever wore a necklace.” Katara said. “I might need to cover the scar.” 

“That’s what I thought.” Riku put the coins back into the purse before shoving that into her pocket. When she removed her hand, Katara could see something red. 

“Here.” Riku handed over a strip of fabric and Katara took it.

“When did you get this?” She asked. The collar was a nice one, but clearly worn. 

“You would be better off not asking so many questions.” Riku replied. 

“I’m just wondering if you stole it from the barber’s wife or back in the Fire Nation.” Katara said blithely. Riku huffed a laugh as Katara tied on the necklace. The cloth rubbed over her scar and she tried to stretch her neck enough to move it. 

“Keep wondering.” Riku said but smiled pleasantly.

“I think we should head to Avatar Island.” Katara said. Riku’s smile disappeared.

“I told you, the princess is going to look first at the places that you’re familiar with.” She said.

“I know, I know. But look, we don’t have enough money to get to Ba Sing Se and the acolytes will help me.” Katara said. As if she could feel the gaze of the acolytes coming from the island, Katara set her shoulders. “They won’t betray us.” 

“Why’s that?” Riku asked.

“Because the Avatar loves me.” Katara admitted. Riku sputtered and Katara felt her face flush. 

“Well, aren’t you the most special thing in the world? Beloved of the Avatar, friends with the Fire Lord, what next? Are you a conduit of the spirits?” Riku asked.

Thinking of Aivilayoq, Katara scuffed a foot along the dirt, making Riku groan.

“Blazes, that was supposed to be a joke.” She muttered. 

It was difficult for Katara not to point out Riku’s own ridiculous history. How this woman had sat on the Earth Kingdom throne and shot down the Avatar with lightning. How she had ended up with a new face and no memories in order to have a chance at peace yet still stood in a foreign country with her sworn enemy. 

“Fine, we’ll go to the island.” Riku paused and looked askance, suddenly shy. “Do you think they’d send a letter?”

“I don’t see why not.” Katara replied softly. “Your father will be worried.”

Riku nodded and then sniffed. “Let’s go.”

Winding through the lower part of the city, Katara once again went to the ferry docks. The statues Toph had erected were long gone, washed away naturally or through the Avatar’s intervention. His statue was still in waiting; Sokka had explained to her that Aang was waiting to look more distinguished before committing his image to stone. 

Katara’s original ferryman wasn’t immediately visible but she still sent Riku down to hire a boat. An older woman was ready to go and Riku called her down, explaining to the woman that they were going to become acolytes. 

When the woman launched them away from the small dock, everything inside Katara lurched. The brackish water smelled like rotting vegetation and silt, but there was still water. Her throat dried as she tried yet again to reach out and the water didn’t respond. They only moved as the woman rowed smoothly through the dark water. Ahead was the island that Katara detested so much.

Toph and Aang had built it in just a few days after Sokka had finalized the blueprints. The spire and connected towers resembled the Air Temples, while the green hills were small emerald pools around the sandstone. The new Air Bison moved lazily both on land and in the air, and Katara could see the large bodies moving around the towers. The acolytes managed everything about the place from landscaping to maintenance. 

Everything had to be kept ready in case the Avatar returned.

When she was there, Katara was treated like another holy relic or empty room to be kept ready. Ready to be filled with the Avatar and serve a purpose. 

It took her longer than she cared to admit to notice. While most of the meals were strictly vegetarian - despite the fact that not all Air Nomads had been vegetarian themselves - occasionally Katara would get something with meat. At first she assumed it was out of respect that she ate meat, but then she noted how these meals were served with joy. The joy would continue to build until Katara had her monthly bleed. Then the acolytes shrank away from her. 

As the got closer, Katara regretted her choice more and more. 

There were acolytes at the dock when they arrived and Katara thanked the spirits that none were ones she knew. They all had their heads shaved and wore long robes of the ancient monks. When they saw Katara, they got excited.

“Mistress!” One exclaimed but Katara glared at her. 

“Yes, I’ve returned with another potential acolyte.” Riku said as she stepped out of the ferry and onto the dock. The acolytes helped her up and then reached out for Katara, taking her gently.

“Thank you for your services.” Riku said to the ferrywoman, who grunted and pushed back from the dock. Not waiting for her to get very far, Katara marched down the dock.

“Is everything okay Master Katara?” An older acolyte questioned softly. 

“I need some assistance.” Katara said. “The Avatar has sent for me.”

The manic energy rippled through the small group and Katara pushed down her disgust.

“We haven’t heard from the Avatar in a few weeks. Is he well?” The older acolyte asked.

_ So Emry hasn’t heard anything either. _ Katara smirked but didn’t say anything about it.

“He is, but I’m not.” She said and stopped, turning dramatically to the group. “You must swear that you will not forsake me.”

“Never!” The acolytes said in unison. 

“There is a plot in the palace that has put me in great danger. I have much to do but first I must answer the call of my,” Katara nearly choked on her borrowed words. “Beloved.”

The joy that erupted on the acolytes’s faces was terrifying and she stiffened.

“What can we do?” The woman who had called out to her asked softly. 

“I need to book passage to Ba Sing Se for myself and my friend, but we don’t have any money. I fled from the city as quickly as I could, rushing to be with Aang.” Katara paused for effect, pulling her hands to her breast. “And with villains after me, I came to the only place I knew we could be safe.”

By the freezing depths, the young woman was dabbing tears from her eyes. 

“We will gladly help you Master Katara.” Another acolyte said. 

“We can get you onto an airship.”

“We’ll fly you back at night so you won’t be spotted.”

“We’ll keep you safe.”

The acolytes spoke over each other and Katara motioned with her hands to quiet them. 

“Please, we must hurry inside. No one must know I’m here.” She said. With a clamor, the acolytes moved, carrying both Katara and Riku inside the temple. Now there was a flurry of activity and Riku looked alarmed.

“Are they always like this?” She asked.

“It’s one of the reasons why I don’t like coming here.” Katara answered.

“What else could there be?” Riku retorted.

“Katara?”

Katara felt bile shoot up her throat and she had to swallow it back. Turning, she looked at the small woman who approached them.

“Hello Emry.” She said coldly. A string of emotions flew over Emry’s face and Katara almost felt an ounce of pity. 

“Did Aang really send for you?” Emry asked.

“Of course. He is doing something I asked of him after all.” Katara said. Emry flinched but looked angry. 

“He hasn’t written to me.” She stated.

“Did he tell you he was going to the North Pole?” Katara questioned. Emry flinched again. 

“Is there anything I can do to help you, Master Katara?” She asked.

“Sure. Stay out of my way.” Katara said and walked past Emry. 

“That was delightful.” Riku remarked as she caught up with Katara. Furious, Katara strode with purpose deeper into the temple. 

Emry was from the eastern part of the Earth Kingdom and had been raised on stories of the Air Nomads. When Aang and Katara had made a trip to the Eastern Air Temple, they had stopped in the Earth Kingdom on a whim. At random, they had picked Emry’s village, having heard that it boasted a volcanic spring that had healing properties. It was a sham of course, but a harmless one. The minerals in the water were good for the skin and Katara enjoyed bathing there. As it was a tourist spot, Aang enjoyed showing off. 

During one afternoon, Katara had watched as Aang pulled some maneuver with his bending, using both water and air. As always, the crowd was in awe, and even Katara had felt her heart swell with love. For all of Sokka’s awful puns, it was true that adoration was Aang’s element and he was always at his best in a crowd. 

Emry had been there, watching with the same swell it seemed. 

As Aang and Katara flew on to the Eastern Air Temple, Emry had headed west to be one of the first acolytes in Republic City. She was waiting for them when they returned. And remained a pain in Katara’s side ever since.

“Don’t feel too sorry for her. She’ll be the Avatar’s wife someday.” Katara said darkly. 

“I’m not interested in romance but I’ll admit to some curiosity about all of this.” Riku said. 

“All you need to know for right now is that I’m manipulating my ex’s fanatical followers into helping me while lying straight to their faces.” Katara said.

“Sounds fun.” Riku said.

It definitely was something more in Azula’s wheelhouse than her own. Katara shook her head to clear out the thought and kept moving. She led Riku to Aang’s private study.

Another memory hit her. 

It wasn’t fair that she was constantly weighed down by all of these memories. It was as if life had tied them up in chains before dumping them into the depths of her mind. They sank, only to emerge when Katara made the mistake of disturbing their resting places. 

Katara could almost see Aang whirl her around the room. It was right after the temple had been completed and Aang spoke about what was next for them. Marriage, if she wanted it, and a life of adventure and learning. Katara could become the greatest Waterbender in history while Aang could work on visiting every village in the world. They were together, the world was safe, and everything seemed bright. 

Aang lowered her, kissing her as the sun poured in through the window. 

“If you write a letter, I can have an acolyte send it out.” Katara said, gesturing to Aang’s desk. Riku sat at it, pulling out random drawers. 

“It’s a mess in here.” She stated and pulled out random scraps of paper. 

“Aang wasn’t the neatest.” Katara agreed. 

“And he sucks at drawing.” Riku said causing Katara to turn. Riku tossed a paper onto the desk, continuing to look for a blank sheet. Katara took the paper and smoothed it out. 

He had been sketching medallions for a betrothal necklace. 

This was too much and the pain seeped from her, leaving her heavy. They had loved each other and Katara had to accept that. Things may have changed, but it didn’t negate the fact that for everything they understood about each other, there had been love. 

Katara looked up as Riku set out a sheet of paper and an ink set. Azula was gone and Riku was not only here, but was helping her. She could be both and yet something else as things changed. Katara would have to accept that. 

“Is your mother happy?” Katara asked.

“That’s a weird question to ask.” Riku fired back, focusing on making ink. 

“I’m just curious.” 

“The same way the Fire Lord is just curious?” Riku glanced up for only a moment before returning to the inkstone. “Don’t think that just because I’m insane that I’m also dumb.”

“What do you mean?” Katara asked.

“I mean that while I know my parents are my parents, the villagers talk about how I came out of the woods. And everyone in Hira’a knows what it means when someone comes out of the woods.” Riku explained. Katara shivered, taking a step back from the desk. 

“The previous Fire Lord did something horrible, to me. And now the new Fire Lord and all of his fancy friends are worried about me.” Riku said. She took up a brush and dipped it into the ink.

“Did we use to be friends Katara?” Riku asked, hesitating before picking up the brush from the stone.

“No.” Katara answered. Riku nodded and began writing.

“I think I’ve always been unpleasant.” She said. She did not sound regretful.

“But you are loved.” Katara said. 

“That doesn’t always mean much sometimes, does it?” Riku, not expecting an answer, kept writing. Katara, not required to answer, walked out of the room. 

She did not keep a study here. That might have been a sign, had she been paying attention. Every time Aang had pressed her to create a space for herself, Katara had brushed it off. The Air Nomads travelled so much, there wasn’t a point in personalizing something she might not see for months at a time. The truth was that she never felt comfortable in the temple. It might have been different if the halls were filled with actual Airbenders and monks, but these people were playacting. 

Katara headed back out, moving toward the Air Bison pen. Just as she breached a small hill and the pen came into view, she stopped. Seeing Dawa would be nice, but it felt trite. There were other ways for her to get around, and bonding with Dawa felt more like playacting as well. Turning away, Katara walked to the zen garden.

Aang had commissioned more statues, giving some of the Earthbenders a chance to be artistic while spending most of their time at construction sites. These statues were of Aang’s family, with Gyatsu sitting just a bit higher than the other council monks. Behind them was a paved labyrinth; a meditative path that spiralled inward and outward. At the center was another statue, this one of Avatar Yangchen, looking serene.

Someone sat at her feet meditating. 

Not wanting to disturb her, Katara moved quietly along the mosaic styled path. Orange stones swirled in, and Katara focused on the oddly shaped rocks that still fit the shape. The labyrinth circled the statue and Katara tried not to look up every time she rounded it to see the woman sitting there.

She was an odd one and Katara doubted she was an acolyte. Her skin was as dark as Katara’s and her hair was matted into thick locks. Her mind wandering, Katara tried to figure out where she possibly could have come from.

In the south-eastern part of the Earth Kingdom, there was the city of Bahrat. It was where Guru Pathik had been born and Aang had been curious to see it. Some of the people there, monks of a sort, neglected their hair to show a disregard for the mundane world and it resulted in mats. It was a mark of divine acceptance and the people were regarded as gurus or sages.

This woman was probably one of those sages, come to meet the Avatar but having to settle for a statue of a previous one. 

“I don’t think your walk is working.” The woman said as Katara came around the statue again. She paused and, feeling silly, walked across the stones toward the woman.

“Hi, I’m Katara.” She said as the woman stood. The woman’s sarong was loose and faded, but she didn’t seem to mind the chill for all the skin that was exposed. 

“And I am Rani. I am glad to meet you.” She replied.

“I apologize for interrupting you.” Katara said awkwardly. Rani smiled, but in a way that felt like Katara wasn’t there. It was an absentminded smile. 

“I was waiting for you.”

“For me?”

“Well, for whatever knotted energy has been coming this way.” Rani clarified and Katara instinctively glanced at the woman’s hair. 

“I would be the expert at knots.” Rani added and Katara gave a half-hearted laugh. 

“I don’t know about knots, but I seem to be a bit stained.” She replied and held out her hands. Rani took them, turning them over to look at the palms.

“Veins move in lines and energy flows best where runs have been established. Now there is a block, and everything has become a mess.” Rani said and let go of Katara’s hands. “You cannot bend, correct?”

The sharpness of the question pierced her and Katara wavered on her feet.

“No.” She admitted and Rani nodded.

“You must find the source of the block and clear it.”

“Can you, help me?”

“Of course. But now is not the correct time. You are too angry.” Rani started to walk away and Katara sputtered.

“Wait, what do you mean? When will you help me?” She questioned, jogging over to Rani’s side. 

“When you are ready.” Rani smiled the same faroff smile. “Don’t worry, I will be here.” 

Katara stopped walking then and watched Rani head to the temple. 

Maybe Riku was right. Her life was pretty damned weird, all things considered. 

Having nothing better to do, Katara returned to the study and found Riku rifling through Aang’s bookcase. Her letter was folded neatly next to the cleaned inkstone and brush.

“What are you looking for?” Katara asked.

“Anything. You never know when some random piece of knowledge will be useful.” Riku said as she flipped through a book. “For instance, did you know that the acolytes believe Aang has asked for you because you’re pregnant and he wants the next Airbender to be born in the Eastern Air Temple?” 

“Why not the Southern Air Temple? That’s where Aang is from.” Katara said. Riku scoffed and shoved the book back into place on the bookcase.

“They’re idiots. They want theatrics and so they created a story in their minds.” 

“For the daughter of actors, you seem to be very disapproving.” 

Riku leveled an incredulous look at her.

“When you go see a show, you know what you’re getting into. When you live your life that way, it’s something else entirely.” She replied. 

Katara handed off Riku’s letter to an acolyte before requesting two beds be made for them. Still exhausted from the trip and sore besides, she just wanted to rest. The acolytes moved with alacrity and Riku was swept away into a random room.

Katara was shown back to Aang’s bedroom.

The door was shut firmly behind her, and the world was cut off from her. The noise of the temple was gone. Katara moved across the wood floor, moving her feet to avoid the plank that groaned. At the bedside table closest to the door was a box. Her purple hands shook as she opened it, feeling the tears start.

She had always wondered if Aang had taken Emry into their bed. But deep down, she knew that he wouldn’t. Katara’s things were still here, still marking this place as her own. This was not a place he would violate. 

Inside the box were odd trinkets. Aang called it her harmony box. A shard of obsidian from a Fire Nation volcano was wrapped in a ribbon she had gotten at a festival in a small Earth Kingdom village. Shells from beaches all over, as shorelines were not unique to one nation. There was a metal figurine Toph had made years ago. A carved bone figure from Sokka. A whittled piece of wood from Suki. A glass vial containing a tiny red blossom from Zuko.

Taking up the vial, Katara held it gently in her hands as she sat on the bed. This had been a birthday present, if she remembered correctly. It was after Zuko had found out about the things their friends had made. Put off by it, Zuko had taken sand from Ember Island and used his bending to heat it. Katara squeezed it in her hand, hoping to feel some of the warmth from the hands of its creator. There was only glass.


	17. Sokka Makes Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: vomiting

Three weeks of being in and out of reality. There would be times that he would slip, and Sokka would be drugged almost immediately. It was never for anything too suspicious; he was weak around Suki and the servants whispered that it was his love for her that kept undoing the effects of the tea. But that meant the princess watched them more, and wondered about the wisdom of keeping the Fire Lord’s friends so close. 

Everything changed when the ministers attacked.

“Get this out of my face.” Mai slapped the cup out of the servant’s hands and Sokka almost started to laugh. He clenched his jaw instead, putting on Pakku’s intense glower to mask the tears forming in his eyes.

“This is disgraceful. Where is the tall dirt woman? She at least understands the rules around here.” Mai stood, herself towering over the servant. “And why do I keep staring at so many Earth Kingdom faces anyway? Last I checked this is the Fire Lord’s palace.”

The servant dashed away without a word and Mai turned to face Sokka. When Mai arrived the servants escorted her into the same longue Sokka hid in. Now they were alone and Mai scoffed in disgust. 

“Ty Lee sent me.” She said and turned her face away. 

“I never thought I’d be so happy to see you. Ever.” Sokka replied and stood. 

Still turned away from him, Mai crossed her arms over her chest and sat back down in her chair with a huff.

“The feeling’s mutual.” She hesitated and finally faced him. “Why is everyone acting so weird?”

“It’s the tea.” Sokka answered, gesturing in the direction of her dashed teacup as he walked to the chair next to hers. 

“So do any of you have a plan?” Mai questioned. 

“Sort of.” Sokka said and Mai sighed loudly, rolling her eyes. “We’re trying to get Suki out of the daze.” 

“Ugggggh.” Mai rubbed her face with a hand, making Sokka smirk. “I hate it when she’s right.”

Sokka tilted his head, trying to make out the mumbling and jerked back when Mai abruptly stood. 

“I’m about to call down unholy fire on this palace. It should give you enough of a distraction to do whatever it is you need to do.” Mai said. Confused, Sokka started to rise but was pushed back as Mai shoved something at him. He held out his hands like a bowl and Mai dropped something weighty.

“A gift from my bitchy ex to help my idiot ex.” Mai said 

Now gaping like an air drowned fish, Sokka watched her yank open the door, starting to shout before slamming it behind her. As things rattled off shelves, he looked at what she gave him. A small vial of pink liquid.

“Huh.” He said.

As more yelling erupted in the hall - now with the booming bass of male voices - Sokka scrambled upright. Opening the door slowly, he jumped back as two jingling servants went running down the hallway. When they disappeared around the corner, Sokka slipped out into the hall and ran the other way.

Of course, he had no idea what to do. Suki could be anywhere in the palace and he didn’t have a plan on how to get her to drink the thing he assumed was an antidote. Still, with his heart hammering in his chest, Sokka moved as quickly and as quietly as he could. 

Hearing more bells coming toward him, Sokka dipped into a room and left the door open a crack.

“Three weeks! Almost a month and we have no idea where Katara is and the Hirasawas have somehow escaped.” Sokka recognized Xianji’s voice and pressed himself against the wall next to the door, holding his breath. 

“We think we may know where they have gone.” The head servant, Deng, said apologetically.

“Think? Like you thought you knew which ship Katara and her little conspirator got on? Like how you thought it was wise to search the islands instead of going directly to Republic City?” Xianji hissed, her voice twisting into something malevolent. When Deng didn’t respond, she sighed deeply.

“Who is this person?” She questioned.

“Her name is Mai and her father was the governor in Omashu when it was New Ozai.” Deng answered.

“And what does she want?” 

“A meeting with the Fire Lord. Her father is the Minister of Foriegn Affairs but she sits for him as his heir. The Fire Lord hasn’t met with the cabinet in months.” 

“I know that.” Xianji snapped. “Let’s deal with this then.” 

They passed and Sokka darted out again. From what little information their ragtag group of rebels could get, the ministers were furious. Two factions had sprouted: one called the Fire Purists who wanted to return to the former glory of the Fire Nation, and the Constitutionalists who had been working with Zuko on creating a different form of government. Mai’s father was the head of the Purists, while the Constitutionalists were popular with the younger citizens. 

There were a lot more Purists in the Cabinet.

Meetings with the ministers were always contentious and stalled frequently. Since the arrival of Xianji, however, they were more unified. The course of action was the only point of concern now.

Sokka wondered who might have stormed the palace, but shook himself to focus. 

“Suki. Have to find Suki.” He whispered to himself.

He turned into a corner and slammed into someone, sending them both sprawling backward.

“SUKI!” Sokka exclaimed as he watched two other warriors help her up.

“What?” She asked as Sokka jumped to his feet.

“Drink this.” He said, holding out the vial.

“Wha-” Suki frowned, then her mouth went wide as one warrior spun behind her, pinning her arm behind her back. The other took the vial, uncorked it, and wrenched Suki’s jaw open. The dance continued as the woman with the vial poured, spun to restrain Suki, and the woman behind her moved forward to pinch Suki’s nose shut.

Sputtering, Suki choked but ultimately swallowed the vial’s contents. Both women then lept back, one standing next to Sokka and the other further behind Suki. Both of them with their fans extended. 

“What?” Sokka exclaimed. Still coughing, Suki fell to her knees and Sokka rushed to her. 

“Get her some water!” He yelled. The Kyoshi Warriors looked at each other and flicked their fans shut with a firm CLACK. The one that had been standing with Sokka moved slower now, gently taking out a small waterskin from a hidden pocket. 

They hadn’t been taking any chances with their beverages it seemed.

She handed Suki the waterskin, which she took greedily. Taking in a mouthful of water, Suki swallowed and let out a shaky breath. 

“Did it work?” The other warrior asked as she walked over. 

“I-” Suki held up her finger and then leaned forward, vomiting in Sokka’s lap. 

“I’m going to take that as a maybe.” He said, just as Suki rocked backward and fell unconscious into the warrior’s arms. 

“What is going on?” The other warrior asked, bewildered. 

“The catalyst.” Sokka stood gingerly, not looking down. “We need to get moving.”

“Feel like putting the robes on again?” The warrior holding Suki asked. She stood, carrying Suki in her arms. 

“Always. But especially now. Like right now.” Sokka said. The two warriors smiled and they turned back the way they had come. 

Waddling to keep the heavy coolness on his shirt away from his skin, Sokka blanched as he followed the pair. He could see Suki’s head bounce a little with every step and he tensed. 

He wouldn’t always be able to protect her, but thankfully he had a lot of friends.

“What?” He asked, missing what the other two had been saying.

“It’s a saying from back home. The machine of the spirits is often worked by a surprising hand.” One repeated.

“It means unexpected help can come from the unlikeliest of places.” The other explained. 

“You don’t happen to have another one of those do you?” The first inquired. 

Sokka looked again at Suki’s bobbing head and frowned. It had clearly not been a difficult choice. After his sister, Suki was the obvious choice to save. Zuko was his blood brother, but there were lots of people who were working to save him.

Toph had no one. And for almost a month, she had been living totally blind. 

An Earthbender who could feel lies. Who could bend metal.

But he had picked the one he promised to quit being so overprotective of. The one he kept telling himself was the most pragmatic choice.

“The Fire Lord can wait.” The other answered.

Everyone forgot about Toph.


End file.
